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.

Written byShawna Williams

| 4 min read

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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 in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, and in the communications offices of several academic research institutions. As news director, Shawna assigned and edited news, opinion, and in-depth feature articles for the website on all aspects of the life sciences. She is based in central Washington State, and is a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers.
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