A wild monkey wandering through the busy streets of Karwan Bazar on a hectic afternoon left pedestrians surprised on Sunday.

The animal was seen moving along the roadside in search of food, offering an unusual yet striking scene in one of the capital’s most crowded commercial hubs.

A monkey walks along the roof of a staircase at the metro station in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar. Photo: Tahiyat Nazifa Noor/UNB.

But the amusing scene exposes a deeper crisis.

The monkey was seen pacing along the busy road, scanning for anything to eat — a vivid image of how rapid urbanisation is disrupting natural food chains.

Searching for food, a monkey munches on fried chickpeas handed to it by a street vendor in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar. Photo: Tahiyat Nazifa Noor/UNB.

As Dhaka expands, the forests, bushes and green belts around the capital continue to disappear, leaving wild animals with fewer sources of food.

A wild monkey jumps from the staircase roof of the metro station in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar. Photo: Tahiyat Nazifa Noor/UNB.

With their natural habitats shrinking every year, wildlife are being pushed closer to crowded neighbourhoods and commercial hubs, often risking their lives in search of a single meal.