<p>DANIA BEACH, Fla. &mdash; A colony of monkeys has lived for about 70 years in urban South Florida, near jets taking off from a nearby airport and fuel storage tanks.</p>
<p>No one was quite sure where they came from. Until now.</p>
<p>Researchers at Florida Atlantic University say they have traced the colony’s origins to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm. The South Florida SunSentinel <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/environment/fl-ne-dania-monkeys-origin-20210519-4hlypboikvgpxpyrii2gw65f2u-story.html#nt=pf-double%20chain~homepage-top-heads~flex%20feature~curated~home-heads-11~4HLYPBOIKVGPXPYRII2GW65F2U~1~1~4~13~art%20yes">reported</a> Wednesday there was a monkey escape from the farm in 1948, with most of the monkeys recaptured. But not all of them.</p>
<p>The rest disappeared into a mangrove swamp, where their descendants live today. The FAU team said the colony currently numbers about 41.</p>
<p>The FAU researchers traced the monkeys’ genetics and concluded they were brought to Florida from Africa. The monkeys were sold mainly for medical and military research.</p>
<p>One thing is certain: Residents of the Dania Beach area where the monkeys live are extremely protective of them.</p>
<p>“The community still loves them,” said Deborah “Missy” Williams, lead author of the study, who is in the FAU Biological Sciences Department. “They care for them. They want them protected.”</p>
<p>Williams has founded the Dania Beach Vervet Project to protect them and is trying to raise money to buy land to serve as a sanctuary.</p>