Monkey small business: Scientists uncover origins of Florida colony

A colony of monkeys has lived for about 70 yrs in urban South Florida, around jets taking off from a close by airport and gas storage tanks.

No just one was fairly absolutely sure the place they arrived from. Until eventually now. 

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Researchers at Florida Atlantic University say they have traced the colony’s origins to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm. The South Florida SunSentinel noted Wednesday there was a monkey escape from the farm in 1948, with most of the monkeys recaptured. But not all of them.

The rest disappeared into a mangrove swamp, exactly where their descendants reside right now. The FAU team claimed the colony at this time figures about 41.

The FAU researchers traced the monkeys’ genetics and concluded they had been brought to Florida from Africa. The monkeys have been offered mainly for healthcare and military exploration.

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1 detail is sure: Residents of the Dania Seaside spot wherever the monkeys stay are incredibly protecting of them.

“The neighborhood even now loves them,” stated Deborah “Missy” Williams, direct author of the examine, who is in the FAU Biological Sciences Section. “They treatment for them. They want them safeguarded.”

Williams has established the Dania Beach Vervet Challenge to protect them and is seeking to raise money to acquire land to serve as a sanctuary.