Posted on 05/19/2021 9:31:29 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A colony of monkeys has lived for about 70 years in urban south Florida, near jets taking off from a nearby airport and fuel storage tanks.
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) say they have traced the colony’s origins to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm... there was a monkey escape from the farm in 1948, with most of the monkeys recaptured. But not all of them.
FAU researchers traced the monkeys’ genetics and concluded they were brought to Florida from Africa. The monkeys were sold mainly for medical and military research.
Residents of the Dania Beach area where the monkeys live are extremely protective of them.
“The community still loves them,” said Deborah “Missy” Williams, lead author of the study, who is in the FAU biological sciences department. “They care for them. They want them protected.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Monkeys of Dania Beach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0SiBqVPNfo
Origins of to farm escape?
“Florida researchers trace origins of monkey colony to farm escape”
My bad.
Aren’t there also a lot of monkeys somewhere in N Central FL?
Awesome stuff. I hadn’t heard of this.
There are some other monkey colonies. In South Carolina as I recall.
I have read that there was a group of escaped medical research monkeys in SW Missouri.
From what I’ve read, a group of privately contracted hunters went in and eliminated the group.
It’s a great story. Thanks for posting it.
There’s a colony of about 300 rhesus monkeys in the Silver Springs area that were brought in in the 1940’s.
Also there have been “local” sightings, for 50+ years, of monkeys in N.W. St. Johns County (think St. Agustine) as well as mountain goats, chimps, parrots and other animals.
Interesting! I wonder how they survive hurricanes?
The chimpanzees opened the monkey cages.
Do you have more info on that? I lived in NW St. Johns County for 15 years, and never heard anything about that.
these the ones with herpes?
I grew up off 13 in the county and the places you usually saw the animals were deep in the creeks where normal people didn’t go unless they had a stump jumper boat. Six mile and trout creeks were common to see them. My father saw the goat on six mile. We didn’t mess with any of them. Then again my generation swam and skied with the gators fearlessly.
lol no i don’t think so- they were featured on the show ‘Monsters and mysteries in America’- i’d never eve heard of them before- lots of crazy ‘cryptid’ stories out in the world-
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