This is one of the students, a pig tailed macaque, at The Monkey Training College in Southern Thailand. He is learning to pick ripe coconuts from 30 feet off the ground (not sure why there are so many height things in Thailand–elephants, suspension bridges …).
The school was started in the 1950’s by a Thai who wanted to use his peaceful Buddhism philosophy to teach monkeys without using violent force which was then an accepted way to treat the animals. Teaching monkeys to harvest was not a new concept as there is evidence of monkeys being used to gather fruit as far back as 2500 BC depicted in Egyptian stone carvings.
For 6,000 baht ($200 US dollars), you can send your monkey to a 3-6 month boarding school. There they learn to spin coconuts free of their stem, untangle themselves from a harness around their waist if they get entangled, only pick ripe ones and throw them down from the tree. This is considered elementary school. For an additional tuition, they can go to secondary school and learn to put the coconuts in a bag and on a truck.
Compared to a fit person who can pick about 100 ripe coconuts a day (you have to climb the tree each time), a male monkey can pick between 1,000 to 1,500 coconuts. Quite the labor force. Another very interesting profession although bird nest gathering still remains one of my top picks.
