The final state park we visited on our travels through Florida was the Silver Springs State Park, which is by far the largest of the three. This is a popular manatee rest stop in the winter months, but what brought us here in the summer was the chance of spotting its resident monkeys. The park is home to non-native rhesus macaques which were introduced in the 1930s with the goal of boosting the springs as a unique tourist attraction. The original plan was to limit them to one small island in the park, but the park owner at the time didn’t know they are very competent swimmers. Now, they have multiplied to far greater numbers and are spread throughout the whole park. We didn’t get to see the macaques in the end - they must have been hiding that day -, but hopefully the native wildlife I did photograph will make up for it!
