Monkey enterprise: Scientists discover origins of Florida colony

A colony of monkeys has lived for about 70 many years in urban South Florida, in close proximity to jets taking off from a nearby airport and gas storage tanks.

No a single was rather confident wherever they came from. Till now. 

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Researchers at Florida Atlantic College say they have traced the colony’s origins to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm. The South Florida SunSentinel claimed 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, the place their descendants stay currently. The FAU staff claimed the colony now numbers about 41.

The FAU scientists traced the monkeys’ genetics and concluded they were brought to Florida from Africa. The monkeys were bought mostly for medical and armed service study.

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A person issue is sure: Inhabitants of the Dania Beach front place where by the monkeys reside are extremely protective of them.

“The local community continue to loves them,” explained Deborah “Missy” Williams, guide writer of the examine, who is in the FAU Biological Sciences Office. “They treatment for them. They want them guarded.”

Williams has founded the Dania Beach front Vervet Undertaking to defend them and is making an attempt to elevate money to buy land to provide as a sanctuary.