The Monkeys of Silver River

I've been hiking a lot lately. I'd say last week I probably did close to 40 miles through the Lower Hillsborough River Wilderness Preserve, mostly on the Old Fort King Trail and the Dead River Park Trail. 

But that's not what this is about.

Although it is sort of related. I was hiking along the Dead River Park access road, which is really beautiful by the way--fully shaded by a giant oak canopy for like two straight miles--but so there I was--hiking along in the dead heat of the afternoon, lugging along my pack and my sore legs when I spotted a troupe of feral boar in the brush just off the trail

 I've heard some stories about these pigs. They can get really mean. Most of the time, they'll run from you. But, occasionally they get kind of ornery. Sometimes, they'll charge and gore at you with their tusks. It's rare and not usually deadly but--shit. That's kind of scary.

But so I was walking along, watching these pigs run off into the brush, snorting and carrying on like I was some kind of monster coming to get them.

This got me thinking. 

When I tell folks I like to go for REALLY LONG walks through the woods by myself, they usually ask me: aren't you scared?

Honestly, there isn't much to be scared of out there. Pigs could be scary. But I carry a knife and no potential bacon is gonna take me down without a fight. 

There are a few things in Florida which are scary:

 And yes the picture of the Black Widow is intentionally not very realistic. 

Panthers are beautiful animals. I don't know of any attacks on humans but it's still crazy to think about big cats roaming around out there while I'm hiking by myself.

But so I got to thinking, while I was hiking, about a particular place--Silver River State Park 

It's a great place to go for a picnic and a hike. My family always stops in when we're in that part of North Central Florida.

But so I can remember hiking one time through Silver River and we were coming up to the river on the trail and I saw something that I never thought I would see in Florida

 
Take a moment to find it. Yeah. That's a fucking monkey.

Evidently, there is a small population of feral Rhesus Macaques living along the Silver River. And they're thriving.

We were walking up to the river, approaching the dock, and I swear to you, one of the bigger ones jumped up on the railing and just stood there, watching us. It was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen.

But it was also kind of cool. A monkey...in the wild...in Florida.

That was the day I decided to start carrying a knife whenever I go hiking. Not saying this chill little mammal wanted anything to do with that. But it's good knowing I have tools and he doesn't.

There was a rumor in the area that the monkeys had escaped during the filming of a Tarzan movie back in the '30s in the Ocala National Forest.

Evidently there is another rumor that a local tour-boat operator released the monkeys in an effort to make his tour more exciting. 

This is where the story gets interesting. When you watch the Tarzan movie, there are no monkeys in it. That is the whole basis for the tour-boat operator theory--because there were no monkeys in the Tarzan film, the monkeys must have come from the crazed tour-boat operator. 


I don't know which I believe. It seems possible that there were monkeys on the set of the film and that they just never used them (maybe because they *gasp* escaped!). But then again, Florida is famous for bringing out the most industrious of marketers for tourism

 Still...whatever the story behind it...there are monkeys running wild in my home state (not to mention anacondas) 

This is a pretty crazy place we live in when you stop and think about it a for moment


(btw, none of those photos are mine.)