VIDEO — ‘This Is Bananas’: Florida Monkey Sightings Have Neighbors on Edge

Numerous Florida residents in the Clermont and Groveland areas say they keep seeing monkeys roaming their neighborhoods.

Clermont resident Aime Krug told Fox 35 she spotted one of the animals Tuesday on the roof of a house on Minnehaha Avenue and was shocked at the sight of it, the outlet reported Thursday:

Possible wild monkeys seen walking around Florida neighborhood https://t.co/yenznMSAVn

— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) May 2, 2024

“This monkey went across the road, and I had to do a double take because I didn’t think that it was actually a monkey,” she recalled, noting that because she lived in India for several years, monkeys do not frighten her.

Video footage shows the monkey casually walking across the roof of the yellow house:

The monkey seen on the roof appears to be the same one residents in Groveland saw on Friday. That animal was described by a primate expert as a rhesus macaque.

Rhesus macaques were introduced into the Silver Springs State Park area in the 1930s, according to the University of Florida’s IFAS Extension.

Although it has been long believed the monkeys were released during the production of the 1939 film, Tarzan Finds a Son, the animals were reportedly there before that time:

Silver Springs became a tourist attraction in the 1870s. The clear waters generated by natural springs led to the beginning of glass-bottom boat tours shortly after tourists began visiting the site. In the 1930s the manager of the glass bottom boat operation, Colonel Tooey, is reported to have released approximately six rhesus macaques in hopes they would attract tourists and increase revenue for the boat tours. Not knowing rhesus macaques are proficient swimmers, Colonel Tooey released the macaques on an island in the Silver River. The monkeys quickly swam to the surrounding forests, where their numbers began to increase. Boat operators used food to lure the macaques to the shore to entertain tour patrons. In an effort to increase the population, Colonel Tooey purchased an additional six macaques and released them on the north shore of the river around 1948.

More video footage shows a monkey running along a sidewalk behind a high school in Groveland. A man who spoke with Fox 35 said he was picking up his daughter at school when he saw what at first he thought was a cat.

“Then when I get closer, I saw it was a monkey,” he said:

Law enforcement in Clermont confirmed they received two reports from witnesses on Sunday and Tuesday, who said they saw the monkeys. Police also warned residents to keep their distance because the animals are wild.

Social media users were quick to share their thoughts on the sightings, one person writing, “Lived here all my life, never knew. This is bananas.”

Someone else called them “Python food.”

In 2022, a man from Ocala, Florida, recorded monkeys diving into the water at Silver Springs State Park, Fox 35 reported at the time:

Matt Schwanke said, “Just sounded like war going on back there. Just crazy hootin’ and hollerin’ and screechin’ and branches. It was just the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”