Question: Which Florida island is famous for having a population of wild monkeys?
Answer: Monkey Island, in Silver Springs State Park.
In 1938, a tour boat operator, Colonel Tooey, released six Rhesus macaque monkeys onto a small island, later converted to Silver Springs Park. His motive was to create a park closely resembling the Tarzan story. This particular species of monkeys are excellent swimmers–they escaped the premises within minutes of releasing them. To replace them, six more monkeys were bought. They, too, escaped. By the early 1980s, the monkeys had spread across what now is the 5000-acre Silver Springs Park.
