A wild monkey fidgeted on a phone it snatched from a tourist.

The long-tailed macaque emerged from the trees and jumped to steal a man's phone as he took snapshots of the beautiful scenery in Chonburi province, Thailand on June 6.

It then retreated with the gadget back to a tree where it could be seen trying to figure out what it's for.

Footage shows the primate inspecting the phone and tasting it from time to time to see if it's edible.

Onlooker Mohammed Noor Kadema said: 'I felt sad for them. They even tried to feed the monkey bananas in exchange for the phone but it didn't work.'

A growing monkey population left starving by the decline in tourists who would feed them with fruits and sugary drinks have prompted the Thai government to launch programs that would control their numbers such as mass castrations.