Pulau Ubin macaques playfully dive-bomb & frolick in waters like nobody's watching

Making a splash.

Ashley Tan | December 03, 2020, 07:21 PM

The similarities between animals and humans can sometimes be quite startling.

Recently, a group of macaques were spotted playing in the waters off Pulau Ubin — just like children at a swimming pool or water park.

Monkeying around

A video posted to Facebook group Nature Society Singapore by Yue Sien Wee showed the troop of creatures splashing around in the mangrove waters at Chek Jawa.

Monkeys were seen swimming around, while others would climb up the nearby trees, before cannonballing into water.

Some also chased each other around in the water.

The macaques did not appear to be aware of the onlookers at first.

A surprising sight to visitors

In her post, Yue expressed his surprise at the sight, saying he never expected that they would "love the water this much".

In the background, another person notes that visiting Pulau Ubin, and possibly coming across such a sight in the wild, is better than going to the zoo.

Towards the end of the clip, a male monkey nearer to the path starts to fornicate with another female, leading Yue and his family to comically go "Aiyoh", "So cute, the baby" and "R-rated, cannot see," before the camera pans away.

Macaques can swim well

Long-tailed macaques, like the ones in Singapore, are known to be proficient swimmers and divers.

Individuals are known to dive into mangrove water to hunt for food like crabs and other crustaceans.

However, this isn't the case for all primates — apes like chimpanzees and orangutans typically stay away from water as they cannot swim.

You can watch Yue's full video here.

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Top photo from Yue Sien Wee / FB