News Animals

Macaques in Puerto Rico learned to share shade after Hurricane Maria

Monkeys who are social were more likely to survive in the years following the storm

A photo of several beige-colored macaque monkeys sitting around on rocks.

A group of macaques groom one another beneath scarce shade on Cayo Santiago in May 2018, around eight months after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico.

Lauren Brent

By Erin Garcia de Jesús

- More than 2 years ago

After Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico in 2017, monkeys living there forged new bonds to share a suddenly scarce resource: shade.