To them, we're big scary monkeys.
We aren't exactly the most friendly of species, at least not in relation to other species.
So the smartest thing they can do is to take our stuff.
Picture this: Boy and girl are out on vacation somewhere tropical. Boy sets camera down and monkey comes by and takes it. Boy and girl are distressed because their camera goes away.
Little monkeys aren't going to mess with big monkeys. Would you mess with a gorilla? I didn't think so. But if there were a big gorilla you didn't like and was bothering you (which isn't true because gorillas like to be left alone and rarely bother anyone), what would you do to keep the gorilla from bothering you? Now, if you're a monkey, all you really know is that if you hurt another animal enough, then it will stay away from you. If you can get the big monkeys to stay away from you, then you have succeeded in establishing your territory.
That's the primer on monkey business with humans. Human monkey business on the other hand is extremely complex, but what it comes down to is that some (human) monkeys want to be left alone from other (human) monkeys.
photo: appurupai
