This is the hilarious moment a monkey copied a zoo visitor - grabbing her phone and then flipping it around to record her.

Gracey Sango, 21, and her family were visiting the Jorge Town amusement park in Davao de Oro, the Philippines, where they began cooing over a troop of monkeys sitting inside an enclosure on August 21.

They recorded themselves feeding the seemingly harmless primates. But after Gracey handed over a scrap of food, she was shocked when the irritated simian seized its chance and grabbed her iPhone 12.

Astonishing footage shows how the animal turned the tables on the tourist, aiming the camera at her to record her and even holding out its other hand to feed her - just like she had been doing seconds earlier.

Footage recorded by the monkey shows Gracey's reaction - hopping around and waving her hands frantically as she screamed with fright then burst out laughing with her friends.

Gracey's cousin quickly stepped in to pluck the smartphone from the monkey's grip. They managed to retrieve the expensive gadget which was too large to fit through the cage grilles.

Relieved Gracey, a full-time medical student, said today: 'When I was feeding this one monkey, he received the treat then he just grabbed my phone. He was so quick, it made me jump and I let go of the phone in panic.

'My POV video was replaced with the monkey's POV. I was so shocked when it grabbed my phone. I didn't how to react so I just jumped up and down waving my arms and screaming.

'I was too scared to go near the monkey after that. They are so clever. He knew how to use my phone to record me. It was like he was copying what I was doing to him.'

The monkey had seemingly seen so many tourists recording him with their phones, that he knew how to hold the gadget and turn it around to record them - mimicking modern human behavior with incredible accuracy.

The hilarious incident mirrors a similar episode in Indonesia, where an idiotic zoo visitor jumped over a fence to film himself taunting an orangutan - but was attacked by the furious animal.

Hasanal Arifin had hoped to capture a 'funny' moment with the orangutan at the Kasang Kulim Zoo in Riau province June 2022, but was pounced on by the powerful primate that tried to drag him inside its cage.

Staff had to step in to help Hasanal as the creature refused to let go of him. His behaviour was condemned by the zoo manager, who reminded visitors to follow the rules.

Hasanal has apologised for his actions and said he hoped his experience would serve as a reminder to obey zoo regulations.