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If you saw the soprano series, you will surely remember Junior who left a memorable phrase: “You carry the helm the best you know. Sometimes the trip is quiet, sometimes you get on the rocks. But you keep respect, that’s what matters.” In Bali there are no ships on, but a temple on the edge of a cliff where respect is won in another way: fruit fruit, glasses by glasses.
An organized band. The temple of Uluwatu, south of Bali Island, attracts thousands of tourists every day looking for the sunset ceremony and traditional balineas dances. But in the shadows – full daylight – another function takes place: that of thieves monkeys.
As He has detailed a report for Wall Street Journalthe protagonists are about 600 long -tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), considered sacred guardians of the temple by the locals. Their method is direct: they detect distracted tourists, they approach with stealth and take away value objects. A few seconds are enough for a mobile, graduated glasses or even slope to change hands.
Jonathan Hammé, a British tourist, remembers the moment with a mixture of disbelief and resignation: “I was admiring my eyes when I felt something on my back. It was a monkey that stole my sunglasses. He got on a tree and started playing with them as nothing.” To recover them, he had to offer him oreos. The animal accepted, but the glasses ended up folded.
Economic intelligence at the primate level. It is not random robberies. Scientific studies carried out by Professor Jean-Baptiste Leca’s team from the University of Lethbridge (Canada), They have documented that macaques have a sophisticated sense of value. They steal what humans value more – designs, glasses, wallets – because they know that these objects are more “exchangeable.”
For more than 273 days of observation, the researchers documented dozens of cases on the dribbing process, which sometimes lasts up to 25 minutes. In other words, the monkeys not only steal but demand greater rewards for more valuable objects. This phenomenon, known in primatology as “Token Economy” or symbolic economyit is very rare in wild animals. Unlike laboratory experiments, these behaviors are natural, free and socially learned. Young monkeys observe successful adults, mimic their techniques and perfect the art of theft. Thus, the “barter culture” is maintained generation after generation.
What if they don’t want to return it? When the tourist fails to recover the object on their own, the Pawanga local mediator specialized in negotiating with the monkeys. Ketut Ariana, 52, has been doing this work for two decades: “Every week we recover between 30 and 50 objects. In high season, up to ten phones per day.”
Ariana He explained to the WSJ that monkeys do not respond equally to all foods. For cheap glasses or combs, just a banana. For iPhones, a whole handle bag, rambután or, in extreme cases, raw eggs, is needed. “Eggs love. But if you use one very soon, then they don’t want anything else,” he jokes.
It is not something new. Although some believe that the phenomenon arose with the arrival of tourism, Ariana says that robberies began much earlier. “Before they stole bracelets or necklaces to the faithful who came to the ceremonies. When tourists with telephones and cameras arrived, they adapted.”
And not only that: they evolved. The 2021 study Published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B He concluded that these behaviors have been in the Uluwatu colony for more than 30 years and that they vary between subgroups. Some monkeys specialize in glasses, others in mobile phones, others in fabric objects. Each clan has its style.
Are there other thieves? Although Uluwatu’s case is the most documented, similar behaviors have been observed in other regions of Asia. There is a documentary series of the National Geographic in which you can see how in Thailand the city of Lopburi has faced true “invasions” of macaques that break into houses, they looted refrigerators and face the neighbors. Or in India, several cities suffer incidents with monkeys that enter offices, hospitals and markets. However, what differentiates Uluwatu’s macaques is their structured “rescue robbery” system. They do not take food: they take goods to exchange them.
A dilemma on a saturated tourist island. The context helps to understand why the phenomenon persists. Only in May 2025, Bali received 602,213 international visitors, According to the Central Statistics Office of Bali. So far this year, the island already adds more than 2.6 million foreign tourists more than in 2024. This tourist pressure explains in part why the “business” of the monkeys is still alive: every day new offices arrive who become perfect target for Uluwatu’s macaques.
Taylor Uter, an American tourist who participated in a yoga retreat, lived the experience intensely since his mobile was stolen. After offering several fruit bags, the monkey released the phone. It was intact, but the experience ruined his visit. “I didn’t see the fire show. I wanted to leave. I felt I was in the middle of a criminal monkeys.”
Beyond astonishment or anecdote. Uluwatu’s case forces to reflect on coexistence between humans and animals in tourist spaces. On the one hand, monkeys are an integral part of the temple ecosystem and have spiritual value. On the other, its behavior has generated a whole parallel economy of bartering, losses, recoveries and viral anecdotes.
The authorities recommend visitors to save value objects in closed backpacks, avoid visual contact with the monkeys and always follow the instructions of the temple staff. Even so, the risk persists.
And the same story. The truth is that in Uluwatu there are no magical solutions: monkeys will continue to steal and tourists will continue to arrive. Scientists see it as a unique case of “symbolic economy” in wild animals; The premises, as part of the day to day. For visitors, the lesson is simpler: better keep the iPhone well … or wear a bag of mangoes in the backpack.
Image | Thomas Schoch
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