Video · Fishing & Trips
Kayaking Silver Springs, Florida to Find the Wild Monkeys
I pack up the kayaks and head to Silver Springs in Central Florida to find the wild monkeys most Floridians don't know about.
What’s in this video
A lot of people in Florida don’t even know there are monkeys living here. So I packed up the kayaks, met up with the Seasick YouTube channel and headed to Silver Springs in Central Florida to find them and learn the story.
As I pedaled closer to the banks, I looked up and saw furry little faces peering down at me. Some even climbed down to the bank to get a closer look. These are rhesus macaques. Back in the 1930s, Captain Tooey ran a Jungle Cruise here. The Tarzan movie came out around 1932 and was huge, so he put monkeys on a nearby island as an attraction. They could swim and left the island fast. He tried again with another group and they left too. Today there are several monkeys around the springs, and some have moved as far as 100 miles away. One note: they carry herpes B virus, though there has not been a case of it passing to people in the area.
On the way out I almost put my hand right on a snake when I pushed off a tree. I think it was a water moccasin. We saw a bunch more wildlife on the way to the exit. To me, this is the real Florida experience, and it’s a lot more fun than Disney.
Key moments
- 0:00 Introduction to the hunt
- 2:32 Navigating the waters
- 3:46 Spotting wild macaques
- 5:07 The history of the monkeys
- 5:57 Concluding the adventure
Quick takeaways
- The wild monkeys at Silver Springs are rhesus macaques, and you can see them from a kayak along the banks.
- The macaques carry herpes B virus, so keep your distance, even though no transmission to people has been reported in the area.
- Watch where you put your hands when pushing off trees. I almost grabbed what I believe was a water moccasin.
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