June 22, 2020

๐†• Hey Hey We're the Ring-tailed Monkeys

More information about Jungle neighborhood monkeys has come to my attention...

๐†• Here we come...
Walkin' down Park Street...
We get the funniest looks...
From everyone we meet...๐†•


In February 1924, some "ring-tailed monkeys" were placed on Monkey Island near the 9th tee on the new Pasadena (Bear Creek) golf course. To be precise, the ring-tailed "monkey" ‒ as it was commonly referred to in the 1920's ‒ is a lemur. Lemurs are primates, an order that includes monkeys, apes and humans.


Over a period of months, the Monkey Island keepers introduced several different types of simians to the small island. Monkeys are known to fight for dominance and supremacy, so conflict was inevitable.

St. Petersburg Times December 5, 1925
By late 1926, the Florida land boom had collapsed and the developer, "Handsome Jack" Taylor abandoned his Pasadena sales office and laid off the staff. The monkeys on Monkey Island were neglected and left to fend for themselves.

St. Petersburg Times February 7, 1926
In January 1927, there was a big "free-for-all" fight between monkey groups on the island (St. Petersburg Times, Jan 21, 1927). The ring-tailed group swam across the lake, migrated about three miles north and hid in the Jungle neighborhood.

Ring-tailed lemurs. Source: pikist.com
Eleven months later, a group of school children picnicking in the Jungle found the eight escapees ‒ plus four more of their offspring. 

St. Petersburg Times November 27, 1927
This would seem to be the same family that Walter P. Fuller saw walking across his seawall at 450 Park Street North around that time. Fuller said the monkeys lived happily in the Jungle for several years.
Ring-tailed lemur. (Source Wikimedia Commons)