If you live in Malaysia, you’re probably no stranger to surprise visits from monkeys.
One minute you’re enjoying your morning coffee, the next, a macaque is running off with your nasi lemak.
But this time, it wasn’t a macaque causing drama, it was a lotong, and let’s just say… he came with taste.
Unlike their more aggressive cousins, lotongs (dusky leaf monkeys) are usually the shy, peace-loving type.
You’d expect them to hang out in trees, munching leaves, not planning home invasions. But one lotong clearly didn’t get the memo and what it did has Malaysians both laughing and slightly concerned about their home décor.
In a TikTok video posted by @aunivthrh, a man can be seen trying to chase the unexpected guest out of his house by lobbing a pillow at it.
But instead of running for the hills, the lotong locked eyes with a rather shiny object; a mirror.
Yes, you read that right. This monkey wasn’t after bananas or snacks.
It wanted a mirror.
With the determination of someone late for a dinner date, the lotong tried to drag the mirror out of the house.
It struggled, of course (because physics), but it wasn’t giving up without a fight.
Sadly for our furry interior decorator, the man managed to shoo it out before it could complete its grand theft glassware.
What really happened
We reached out to Auni, the original poster of the video, to find out what really happened and turns out, there was a lot more going on behind the scenes.
“Yes, this is the first time the lotong came into our house,” she shared.
“Before this, monkeys and lotongs usually just roam around outside because there’s an unmanaged hill right behind our house in Bukit Katil, Malacca.”
The monkey didn’t break in randomly, it spotted an opportunity.
“The sliding door was slightly open because my brother was about to go to the car. He didn’t close it fully, just for a while,” Auni explained.
“Suddenly, the lotong came in from nowhere. We were so shocked!”
Once inside, it went straight for the mirror. But its clumsy adventure didn’t go unnoticed. “One bed lamp near the mirror broke, but luckily the mirror was fine,” she said with relief.
The whole ordeal lasted about three minutes.
“We managed to chase it out after a short while,” she said.
“My brother accidentally threw a pillow to protect my nephew, because at first, we thought it was a macaque, not a lotong. So we panicked, thinking it was the aggressive kind.”
Since then, the same lotong hasn’t made a return. But monkey sightings are still common.
“Monkeys still roam around outside, especially near the alley, they always attack the rubbish bins because they’re hungry,” Auni said.
“My parents also throw food onto the hill behind our house while they’re gardening, so I think that’s one of the reasons the lotong came into our house.”
When asked how she felt in the moment, Auni admitted, “Honestly, I was scared and confused. I was in the kitchen and just heard a commotion from the living room. The video was recorded by one of my brothers and sent to our family group chat after everything happened.”
Watch the clip here:
