A wild monkey tried to steal a tourist's helmet to play with it.

The primate was hanging out next to a forest road at a wildlife sanctuary in Phuket, Thailand when a couple passed by on May 17.

It dashed to the man and grabbed onto his helmet, and motioned to bite his hand so he let go.

The object rolled onto the gutter, with the monkey quickly following behind and threatening the pair away.

Tourist Veronika Sandyga, from Serbia, said: ‘We were afraid to take the helmet back because it might bite us. It seemed to want the helmet so much.'

The creature tinkered around with the helmet and even called a friend to play with it.

When it tired of the helmet, the monkey returned to its troop and left.

Veronika said: 'These monkeys are so cute but they can be feisty sometimes.'