Keora Season Nears Its End in the Sundarbans: Monkeys Plump on the Fruit, Count Rising to 152,444

One monkey’s mouth is full of keora, another holds a half-eaten fruit. One leaps from branch to branch while another sits calmly chewing. Scrambling, chasing and mischief fill the keora groves of the Sundarbans — it looks as if the monkeys are holding a festival.

The keora season in the Sundarbans is now almost over. Most trees have shed their fruit, but some still bear it, and troops of monkeys move from tree to tree in search of it. With food so abundant, their bodies grow noticeably plump at this time of year.

The scene was witnessed on Thursday morning in a keora grove on the bank of the Koyra river. As soon as the troop sensed human presence, however, it vanished through the branches into the deep forest, leaving behind only scattered pieces of keora as evidence of the lively feast moments earlier.

Fisherman Asadul Sardar was fishing in the Koyra river at the time. He said the keora fruit is now nearly finished; it is abundant in the forest through the months of Shraban, Bhadra and Ashwin. Fishermen cook lentils with the fruit and also boil it and thread it on hooks to catch fish. In his words, at this time the monkeys eat keora and grow fat and healthy.

Another fisherman, Ikramul Gazi, said the same. In his words, it is now the month of Kartik, and until this time the monkeys stay lively from eating keora. When the fruit runs out, they eat young leaves, grass and even crabs from the riverbank, and then their bodies lose the fat and become quite thin.

The relationship between monkeys and deer in the Sundarbans is also unusual. According to the fishermen, monkeys tear fruit and leaves from the branches and drop them below, and the deer standing underneath eat them. They also help each other in danger — when a monkey senses a tiger, it screams from a high branch, and the deer herd grows alert at the call.

On Sunday afternoon, monkey activity was also seen at the Kalagachia ecotourism centre on the bank of the Khulpetua river. Troops raced along the branches, chasing one another and chattering, while tourists watched, fascinated.

One change in the monkeys’ behaviour is noticeable, though. Previously they would rush towards tourists hoping for food, their eyes on the food and bags in people’s hands. Now, with their stomachs full of keora, that interest has largely faded.

Tourist trawler owner Anisur Rahman said some monkeys become aggressive if not given food and try to snatch bags or food. But now, having eaten keora, they look plump and their interest in food has fallen. Every time he has come during the keora season, he has seen them this lively, he said.

Forest worker Md Mohiuddin of the Kalagachia ecotourism centre said keora is important for maintaining the forest’s food cycle and the balance of nature, noting that keora is one of the main foods of Sundarbans monkeys. The fruit also supplies food for deer, many bird species and many other animals of the forest.

Across roughly 6,000 square kilometres of the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans, the most commonly seen monkey is the rhesus macaque. Their troop movements are visible at ecotourism centres such as Kalabagi, Karamjal, Jamtola, Katka, Kochikhali, Kalagachia and Harbaria.

According to forest workers and trawler operators, when tourists leave their trawlers and enter the forest, monkey troops seize the chance to board the boats; anything edible within reach is taken and carried off. Deer move away at the sight of humans, but monkeys do the opposite, often coming close in hope of food. If teased or annoyed too much, however, they can become angry and even bite.

AZM Hasanur Rahman, divisional forest officer of the Sundarbans West Forest Division, said that according to a December 2023 survey by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the number of monkeys in the Sundarbans is 152,444. In 2004 the number was 51,000 — the monkey population has risen significantly in two decades.

According to the forest officer, monkeys look healthiest and freshest during the keora season. Tourists, too, notice the plump bodies and extra liveliness — many then say that one look at a monkey’s face tells you the keora season is on in the Sundarbans.