Newborn monkey gives a painful looking tug on mum but he’s just too cute for her to be cross
With big brown eyes wide open, newborn macaques discover the world around them in their first days on earth in Bali, Indonesia.
Living with their mothers in a sanctuary known as the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud, they play up in front of the cameras making faces and striking poses worthy of a Vogue model.
One youngster is particularly brave, putting up his little fists in defence of the piece of wood he has turned into a plaything.
Another is clearly amused by the photographer’s lens as he hides a cheeky smile behind his hand.
The picture perfect primates provided an ideal photo opportunity for photographer Natalia Paklina who shot some of the newborns while on holiday in Bali.
Ms Paklina, 52, said: ‘It was really interesting to watch these monkeys.
‘Usually their life is hidden under the tropic forest canopy. And here there is a unique possibility to watch and photograph them from a short distance.
‘Monkeys are absolutely free and wild but at the same time they are not afraid of people at all.’
She added: ‘The photography process was pretty difficult because it was quite dark in the forest and the baby monkey kept wriggling.
‘The monkey are moving all the time. Jumping from the light to the shadow and back again. There are so many of them so you don’t know which one to photograph.
‘But as soon as I saw this baby, I just had to take a photo, he was probably only a couple of days old and very cute.’
The Sacred Monkey Forest is currently home to over 600 Balinese long-tailed macaques living in four troops across the tourist attraction
The infants are completely black during their first six months, after which they slowly turn to grey until they are about 12 months old.
Males are considered adult at the age of five and sport characteristic ‘moustache’ facial hair and women become adult after they give birth to their first baby.
