I haven’t yet spoken of the monkeys we discovered just down the hill aways still within the gated community in which we are staying. We had heard that monkeys are on the island and we wondered where they reside – well we found some of them.
On Sunday afternoon, returning from the airport after picking up Chris, we drove through the association on the side road we don’t normally take to reach Tom and Joe’s. On a stretch of the very narrow rough street passing through an area which is undeveloped and covered in low lying brush and twiggy vines we came upon a group of twenty or so monkeys. The adults are only about 2 feet tall and the younger ones smaller, covered in a light dappled greyish fur coat. We saw a mother carrying a nursing infant! They were very cute and seemingly charming and a complete surprise.
As we approached, the monkeys quickly climbed into the dense brush and trees along the side of the road – but not too far in. As we passed I could see them hanging from the branches and hiding in the underbrush close to the roadside staring at the car – us – as we drove by.
It turns out these monkeys are a species known as the Vervet monkey. It originated in Africa and was brought to St. Kitts and Barbados in the 1600s. Exactly how they arrived on St. Maartin is unknown, but it is speculated that they have been on this island only a few decades. No one seems to know just how populous they are and whether the hurricane significantly reduced their headcount.
Immigrant monkey populations on other islands have been hypothesized as responsible for the demise of certain lizard, snake and snail populations. Without a natural predator their numbers, unchecked, can pose potential problems for human populations.
When Rolando drove us to our New Year’s dinner on Monday evening I asked him about the monkeys. Are they dangerous? Are they tame? Could they hurt someone? “I don’t know if they are dangerous or not, but I don’t trust them. I wouldn’t trust them. That’s all I can say.”
And that said pretty much everything I needed to know about how close to get without benefit of the car serving as a barrier between them and us!
