Monkeys ride on the back of a pickup truck fully loaded with coconuts after collecting them from a plantation in Chumphon province, southern Thailand Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006.
The monkeys, the pig-tailed macaques, can quickly scamper up the trunk of a coconut palm, select the ripe ones and with a twist and pull the fruit will drop to the ground. 'One monkey can pick about 300 coconuts a day. The monkey works 10 times quicker than a man,' said Somboon Cheumuang, the monkeys' owner.
About 1,200 trained monkeys are working as coconut pickers in the country's southern coastal provinces of Prachuab Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Surat Thani, Ranong and Nakhon Si Thammarat.