Researcher Deborah Williams found that this Vervet monkey and the rest of a colony in Dania Beach, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport dates to a band of escapees from the old Dania Chimpanzee Farm in 1948. Most were captured, but some disappeared into a mangrove swamp. The study determined that 41 descendants live in the area today.
Deborah Williams via AP
DANIA BEACH, Fla. For about 70 years, a colony of monkeys has lived in South Florida near jets taking off from nearby Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and fuel storage tanks.
No one was quite sure where they came from. Until now.