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 ...
Yes, Silver Springs was where I was trying to recall.
You made me laugh so loud that I woke my wife.
They might be chimps off the old block, but they could never be the gorilla your dreams.
Near Tallahassee?
CC
When I went to Key West, the Roosters everywhere was very cool.
They are an invasive species...
Kind of like starlings, iguanas, or Burmese pythons...
There is a colony of them that have taken up residence in Washington DC... They are an invasive species...
Silver Springs, near Ocala had monkeys brought in for the Tarzan movies that were filmed there. Johnny Weissmuller. They kind of over ran the place until the 80s when they were the target of suppliers of animals for lab experiments. That pretty much wiped them out.
I don’t like monkeys, they’re nasty
In the mid-70’s there were a bunch of Rhesus monkeys on a small Island off the south side of the lower Florida Keys, can’t remember if it was closer to Bahia Honda or Summerland. You could get close but had to prevent them from stealing anything off your boat (small Whaler).
I despise monkeys. In 1977 Geils band came out with a song “Monkey Island”, decent song, never given airtime.
Theres another group that lives in south minneapolis. And they are protected by the residents too.
Morgan Island, not far from Hilton Head. Been there since the 70’s.
Also, the Cape Saint Joe Peninsula As I recall
ISWYDT
“Then again my generation swam and skied with the gators fearlessly.”
No fear at all. It was a great time to be young!
bttt
There are (were?) a bunch of monkeys living in the Titusville area who got loose from a theme park called Tropical Wonderland. The place was originally owned by Tarzan’s Johnny Weissmuller in the 1950s-1960s.
They even had an elephant that got loose and was hit and killed by a semi right out on US 1.
By 1967 it was called Florida Wonderland and was owned by Bob Kirk, brother of the Governor. And that’s when I met my wife-to-be, who was working as ‘saloon girl’ at the soft drink saloon in the Western town attraction, while I was there doing the Porpoise shows.
54 years later and we’re still together.
The Ocala monkeys began with six-eight rheus monkeys. Tooey thought they would stay on the island not realizing they were swimmers. In the single Silver Springs troop there were more than a thousand ten years ago and it's expected to grow to 400-500 by next year. They are only one of the troops.
Thanks, Lil’bit. Amazing addition.
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