Are there still monkeys on Morgan Island?

Morgan Island is uninhabited, and is home to a breeding colony of approximately 3,500 free-ranging, Indian-origin rhesus monkeys. There is a 370-acre (150 ha) portion of upland that supports a semi-tropical maritime forest where the monkey colony primarily resides.



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Morgan Island is home to about 3,500 rhesus monkeys. It sits on some 400 acres of high ground at the mouth of the Combahee River, one of three rivers that form the ACE Basin estuary. Passing boaters can often spot monkeys lounging on the shore and scampering up the island's pines. Locals call it “Monkey Island.”

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During the summer of 1979, the rhesus monkey breeding colony of the La Parguera facility of the Caribbean Primate Research Center was shipped to Morgan Island, South Carolina. During six shipments in 1979, and three more in 1980, over 1400 animals were translocated.

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Monkey Island has been around since the 1960s -- starting out as a pile of rocks. Today, it still stands. The monkey residents are cared for by nearby resort owners.

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Monkey Island (officially Cayo Santiago) is a small island, about 1 nautical mile off of the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, that is home to about 1000 free-roaming Rhesus monkeys. The monkeys are the offspring of an original group of monkeys imported from India that were used for scientific research in 1938.

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The S.C. Department of Natural Resources owns Morgan Island, but the federal National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is responsible for the colony itself.

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The macaques are free-ranging, forage for acorns, insects, shellfish and plants, and “are the last standing group of rhesus monkeys used for medical research in the U.S.,” according to Klopchin. NIAID maintains that no research is conducted on the island, however.

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Since these monkeys prefer not to swim, they can't come back to land. Over the years, the island has been battered by storms, causing disrepair. “There's not a whole lot of protection from the weather,” said John Pricher, Citrus County tourist development director.

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The island is owned by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR. The monkeys that live on the island are owned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and used for public health research.

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