Morgan Island In South Carolina Is Secretly Home To Thousands Of Monkeys
Any idea how many islands South Carolina has? The number listed at this Wikipedia resource is thirty-four, but we suspect there are more. The coast of South Carolina has many secrets, like these six hidden beaches. But there is one beach you may want to steer clear of.
That's because the tiny little island attached to that beach is secretly home to a colony of approximately 4,000 monkeys. It's one of only two Rhesus Monkey colonies in the U.S. The other can be found on the Silver River in Florida, on a similarly secluded island.
The little monkeys are oh-so cute, but they are not tame. And the island is a private research lab not open to the public. But you can view them from the water!
The monkeys were owned by the FDA and were moved to Morgan Island (a.k.a. Monkey Island) located outside Beaufort in 1979, after Puerto Rico booted them out of a research lab from which they were escaping and spreading disease.
Over the years, the monkeys have been used for varying research projects. However, controversies over the monkeys, the island, and the research, brought most of the research to a halt.
Now the only research conducted on the island, according to a Wikipedia page on Morgan Island, has to do with the monkeys' affect on the environment of such a small island. Today, the monkeys are owned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and the research is conducted by Charles Laboratories.
Want to see them in person? If you have a kayak you can paddle about 4.5 miles from Eddings Point, St. Helena. The locals say the best time to see them is early in the morning, when hundreds of them gather on the beach.
Robin Jarvis is a travel writer and editor for OnlyInYourState.com with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. Her love for travel has taken her to many parts of the world. She's lived in the Carolinas for nearly three decades and currently resides in Charleston. When she's not working, she loves to cook with friends and check out new adventures. General questions and FAM tours: rjarvis@onlyinyourstate.com.
