Monkeys attack tourists at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, egged on by YouTubers, officials say

At Angkor Wat and other temple ruins nearby, macaque monkeys fed by YouTubers creating videos are stealing visitors’ food and injuring them

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Macaque monkeys at Bayon Temple in Angkor Park. Wild monkeys egged on by YouTubers have been going on the rampage at Cambodia’s famed temple complex, attacking tourists, wrecking stonework and damaging information boards. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:45pm, 5 Feb 2025

Wild monkeys egged on by YouTubers have been rampaging at Cambodia’s famed Angkor temples complex, attacking tourists, wrecking temple stonework and damaging information boards, officials say.

The agency that runs the Unesco-listed site warned visitors to steer clear of the growing gangs of “aggressive” macaques that live around the sprawling complex of ruins and have been biting tourists.

The macaques are native to the lush forests that surround the temple ruins in the Angkor Archaeological Park, but the Apsara National Authority said human interaction – particularly by people filming content to post online – had changed their behaviour.

A small number of YouTubers regularly fed monkeys to create videos and this has “changed the monkeys’ natural behaviour from being wild animals to domestic ones that are aggressive, steal food, and cause injuries among people”, it said.

A YouTuber follows a mother and baby macaque with his iPhone near Bayon temple in the Angkor Archaeological Park. Authorities there are investigating the abuse of monkeys, and attacks by them on tourists. Photo: AP

Some have reportedly even filmed themselves abusing macaques.

Long Kosal, a spokesman for the Apsara National Authority, said that as well as the danger posed to tourists, the agency was increasingly worried about the monkeys damaging the centuries-old stonework.