Indonesia's performing masked monkeys

Street performance with macaque monkeys is a common form of cheap entertainment in Indonesia, and other Asian countries.

It usually involves the monkeys wearing masks, such as doll heads or attire to mimic humans.

Profound poverty drives handlers to exploit the animals in the hope of earning a small change.

As for the masks, it has been a tradition for a very long time. Some of the handlers started putting baby doll masks on their monkeys because it was something new and different from the conventional masks, which come from Indonesia's dance performance tradition.