A Jumanji-Moment

Remember the moment in Jumanji when the Police Officer Carl Bentley (played by David Alan Grier) was floating down the street on the house door...and the shock he expressed when a very large gator swam by? Well, that's kinda how we felt yesterday...like we were sucked into another world.

We were leaving the storage facility, driving down a two-lane road which parallels US Hwy 1 when Andy says, "There's a monkey!". I'm figuring he's referring to a funny stuffed monkey that a truck driver must've decorated his rig with (two semi's were parked on the side of the road). But Andy continues to say, "There's a monkey!" several times. I look behind us and lo and behold, but *there's a monkey*! A real one! And he's literally loping along side the car at a good clip. He was beautiful: short-haired, tan & cream, a long curling tail, and he was probably over knee-high when on all fours.

At first we thought he was dumped by an owner who no longer wanted him...or he abandoned the Bonnet House...or escaped from Wildlife Care Center. So, I went online to try to identify what kind of monkey he was. I figured I'd call Wildlife to report the sighting in case they were looking for him. Then I came across a couple of interesting articles from 2004.

Apparently these monkeys - Green Monkeys or Vervets - have been living free in the Dania Beach area since the 1950's. Possibly having been released when a local attraction closed it's doors. There used to be two families of these monkeys, and they are led by dominant females. Good thing we didn't get too close to this guy because they have 2" fangs. Because they are non-native they are not protected, so I don't know how many are still alive today (four years after these articles were written).
Photo Credit: St Petersburg Times - Click on photo to link to article.

We continue to be surprised by the non-native species running wild in our little area of the world.