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'Uncle Fatty' The Famously Obese Thai Monkey Is Missing Presumed Dead

'Uncle Fatty' The Famously Obese Thai Monkey Is Missing Presumed Dead

The macaque gained his famous belly after being fed unhealthy treats by tourists

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

An obese monkey who shot to fame with the nickname 'Uncle Fatty' is missing, feared dead, after disappearing from a monkey 'fat camp' in Thailand.

Yes, Uncle Fatty the overweight long-tailed macaque monkey appears to have absconded from the camp after he was put on a strict diet by animal workers in an attempt to get him down from 33lbs - twice the normal weight for his type of monkey - and he's not been spotted for four months now.

Despite attempts to curb his eating, Uncle Fatty just kept stealing from other monkeys before then seemingly vanishing from the face of the planet in February.

It seems that Uncle Fatty earned his nickname by developing a huge belly after being fed an unhealthy diet by tourists.

As you can see, he wasn't missing any meals.
Viral Press

One other nasty side-effect of this diet was that he no longer needed to forage, so he didn't perform as much exercise as the other monkeys.

If only we all had decent excuses like that, eh?

After he went rogue, local resident asked the police to check their CCTV cameras to see if they could discover any trace of the missing monkey. They had a look at footage from areas that he was known to frequent, but found nothing.

Well, he can't have gotten too far, right?
Viral Press

Further searching has so far failed to turn up either a body, or an alive - if very overweight - monkey. If dead, Uncle Fatty's pack at the Khun Kala monument will need a new leader.

With any luck, they'll choose one that can live up to Uncle Fatty's considerable legacy.

There is a local superstition that the forests 'reclaim' the corpses of monkeys after they die, which some believe to be proven by the fact that no body has been recovered.

However, there is also a large chance that he's just been eaten.

Uncle Fatty, we hardly knew ye.
Viral Press

Kavinaphat Mongkoltechachat, who is the president of the 'We Love Monkey Club' (oh, to be a fly on the wall at one of their meetings) said: "Our staff always saw him sitting in front of the monument every time they came to feed the pack. But one day, he was just gone.

"We thought that he was just sick and might have gone into a deep forest to heal himself. We decided to search there the following week but still couldn't find him."

Goodnight, sweet prince.
Viral Press

After the initial search was unsuccessful, the Monkey Lovers consulted specialists to see if they had any clues.

Kavinaphat continued: "They told me that when monkeys know that they're very weak, they will isolate themselves and won't let any other monkeys or anyone see them dying.

"He might have died of old age because Uncle Fatty has already lived beyond the age average. He also looked exhausted and didn't want to eat much.'

"We'll keep searching for him because we're still worried about him. It might be sad if we discover that he really is dead but it's better than not knowing anything at all."

Featured Image Credit: Viral Press

Topics: World News, Animals