Scientists Unite to Save “Monkey Island” After Hurricane Maria

Puerto Rico’s Cayo Santiago has hosted decades of research in cognition, primatology, immunization, and other areas.

Shawna Williams

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ISLAND HOP: Caretakers and research scientists commute to the monkeys’ home by boat.BONN AURE

When Hurricane Maria ripped through the Caribbean last September, the small town of Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico, was devastated. Many homes were destroyed, and people lost reliable access to electricity, clean water, and food. In addition to making sure their own families and neighbors had what they needed to get by, some of Punta Santiago’s residents had another pressing concern: the fate of 1,700 rhesus macaques living on an island a kilometer away.

The monkeys inhabit Cayo Santiago, a 38-acre landmass off the east coast of Puerto Rico. The animals are the descendants of about 400 macaques brought to the island from India in 1938 by Clarence Carpenter, a primatologist then working with the School of Tropical Medicine in Puerto Rico. According to Richard Rawlins, ...

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Meet the Author

Shawna Williams
Shawna was an editor at The Scientist from 2017 through 2022. She holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Colorado College and a graduate certificate and science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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