Believe It Or Not, Texas Had A Ranch Full Of Japanese Snow Monkeys

Texas is home to an insane amount of wildlife. If you love animals, you're in the right place. We have it all from many varieties of fish to African warthogs that call Texas home, and not in a zoo. Recently, I started hearing stories about monkeys in south Texas, and how foolish I was to think it couldn't happen.

The Japanese Snow Monkeys Of South Texas

Back in the 1970s, Japan had a bit of a problem with a booming population of Japanese macaques. The monkeys were becoming a major nuisance. They were invading temples, and they were stealing food and clothes. Something had to be done.

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The choice was made to round up and ship out as many of these monkeys as the Japanese officials could get their hands on. In 1972, 150 of them found their way to a ranch in south Texas. A rancher had heard about the monkeys, and according to some accounts, he saw dollar signs. Unfortunately for the rancher, selling monkeys wasn't quite the money-maker he thought it would be.

A New Breed Of Texan Monkey In South Texas

Adjusting to their new digs proved difficult for some of the monkey population. They succumbed to the heat and a new breed of predators. These monkeys had never seen coyotes, bobcats, or rattlesnakes before. Many monkeys met their fate at the hands of the elements in Texas. Then, something amazing happened.

The monkeys began to adapt to their new surroundings. Instead of swimming to keep warm like they did in Japan, they started swimming to keep cool in the Texas heat. They learned how to eat cacti and forage for food on the Texas ranchland. They even developed a new language to identify the new threats they faced in the Lone Star State. Supposedly, a recording of the Texan monkeys was taken to Japan, and the Japanese monkeys didn't understand any of it.

The monkey population in Texas would explode. The original 150 monkeys grew to somewhere between 400 and 600. Supposedly, some of the monkeys escaped over the years, and there are now reports of wild monkey sightings in south Texas. For the ones that stayed put, they wound up being moved to a sanctuary. To this day, Texas-born Japanese Snow Monkeys are living in south Texas.

There are also still rumors of wild monkeys living in south Texas. Some say that if you get lucky, you can see somewhere between 15 and 40 of them hanging out at a time.