This is the heartwarming moment a mother monkey picks up someone's discarded lunch and shares it with her seven children.

The primate collected the trash with food inside from a road in Lopburi, central Thailand. She then ambled back to a safe place where she opened the plastic bag as her seven baby monkeys looked on eagerly.

Onlookers watched the scene unfold in the Thai city, some 150km north of Bangkok, where there are an estimated 6,000 wild monkeys living in the streets with a human population of just 70,000.

Officials have taken steps in recent weeks to control the monkey population which has soared during the coronavirus lockdown ban on international tourists entering the country.