EN
Bang San is a long-time resident of Ko Yao Noi Island. At the age of 72, when picking coconuts was no longer easy, this old man trained the grumpy monkey Ai Thong to become a devoted colleague, picking thousands of coconuts every day. Just by hearing the command of his owner Bang San, the monkey Ai Thong immediately climbed up the coconut tree to pick the most delicious old coconuts. When he found the "target", Ai Thong immediately used his foot and twisted it until the stem broke. A few seconds later, a coconut fell neatly to the ground.
If he finds out that the coconuts are gone from one tree, Mr. Bang San will signal Ai Thong to move to another tree, and so on. After the coconut picking is finished, Mr. Bang San will let the monkey sit at the base of the tree, then peel the coconuts, and transfer the delicious fruits to candy factories or Thai sweet factories, coconut milk production at Ko Yao Noi Nott market. For his part, after tiring working hours, Ai Thong monkey is "compensated" with his favorite delicious cakes.
Mr. Bang San is currently one of the very few people who still raise monkeys to pick coconuts. Before that, since the 1800s or even earlier, countries like Thailand, Malaysia, or Indonesia "used" monkeys to pick coconuts.
In modern life, with the increase of many coconut products around the world, the coconut growing industry has developed in a different direction, causing the practice of raising monkeys to pick coconuts to gradually disappear.
