Stay monkey, stay.

February 10, 2012 11:19 AM

The Rhesus Macaque that settled in St. Petersburg, Florida (previously) has apparently found his niche.

For the past two years the Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay (aka Mr. Monk), who has over 82,000 fans on Facebook, has been at large despite serious attempts to capture him. No longer having to shake off tranquilizer darts, he now has a cat friend, enjoys Oreos, bananas and is apparently happy and healthy.

posted by lordrunningclam (14 comments total)

Avoid the comments section of the last link. It contains hateful stupidity.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:24 AM on February 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have had a fear of macaques since I learned about Herpes B Simian.
posted by The otter lady at 11:27 AM on February 10, 2012

"Herpes B Simian" sounds like the name of an old ABA league star...
posted by hincandenza at 11:31 AM on February 10, 2012 [3 favorites]

He's been getting aid from our side for a while. I had keywords set up in rss feeds for news about this lil guy, and when I checked last August there were anon reports that he was getting help from people in the area, and was doing just fine.
posted by cashman at 11:46 AM on February 10, 2012 [2 favorites]

Behind a secluded south Pinellas County home of a retired couple, their elderly mother and an aging cat named Koko, the rhesus macaque has found his comfort zone.

Koko's Kitten Monkey
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:58 AM on February 10, 2012 [2 favorites]

What would rhesus do?
posted by Kabanos at 12:00 PM on February 10, 2012 [2 favorites]

The first video is poignant. He reminds me of an old, exiled sage. He has achieved peace with his isolation and now sits, contemplating the mysteries of the cosmos, eating his oreos and banannas. I love me some friday mornin' anthropomorphism.
posted by Jibuzaemon at 12:14 PM on February 10, 2012

There's no wrong way to eat a rhesus.
posted by The otter lady at 12:40 PM on February 10, 2012 [4 favorites]

The comments section of the last link also has this:

"I think that we should put a cape on him, furnish him with a fire arm, and train him to fight crime in that area of town (which is incidentally my area of town) - as long as he's on the loose, he may as well do something productive."

MONKEY JUSTICE
posted by queensissy at 1:28 PM on February 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is there a downside to him living in the "wild"? I'm always suspicious of invasive species in an area. Is there a chance he would be aggressive? Spread disease?
posted by I am the Walrus at 1:36 PM on February 10, 2012

Get a job, monkey! (previously and previously)
posted by Daddy-O at 1:37 PM on February 10, 2012

There are already troupes of rhesus monkeys around Homestead/Miami, who got free after Andrew. It's not unprecedented, though unusual this far north.

When the news is full of alligators getting into peoples' bathrooms, gigantic pythons, African monitor lizards, and frostbitten iguanas dropping from trees, a solitary monkey is cute and cuddly by comparison.

Stay free, monkey. Stay free.
posted by cmyk at 2:32 PM on February 10, 2012

They say he even looks after their car.

The fact that the above sentence is followed by a quote about the family cat makes me unsure of how actually awesome this monkey really is.

Typo or trutho?
posted by Sys Rq at 8:41 PM on February 10, 2012

If I lived in St. Pete I would stalk this foul beast like the evil Victorian hunter in Jumanji. I'd put his stuffed head on my rhino skin front door with a knocker ring through his nostrils.

The geriatric cat may live.
posted by dgaicun at 10:42 PM on February 10, 2012