Monkey sanctuary! And Florida nature parks

12/7/25

Hello from Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary! This place, just north of Gainesville, provides a permanent home to (at present) 177 monkeys, including capuchins, marmosets, tamarins, squirrel monkeys, and spider monkeys. These monkeys have been surrendered from people who used to keep them as pets; surrendered from animal-testing labs; and confiscated from people who had kept them as pets while engaging in various illegal activities that eventually got them arrested. The monkeys then live out the rest of their days here, with 18 staff members and rotating volunteers helping them to have the best possible quality of life.

I arrived here a few days ago, and plan to stay about another week, before I head south to Sarasota for my next cat sit.

I am volunteering four hours per day, in exchange for room and (all vegan!) board. So far, on my two work days, I have been helping with the “munchkins”: the tamarins and marmosets, who are the smallest residents here. I will plan to take more photos of the other monkeys for my next post, but for now, enjoy these few munchkins (and one capuchin, a larger species who lives outside my door here in the guest house.)

My duties so far have included preparing monkey meals, which are incredibly varied! Their food bowls are slightly different each day, and include fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, canned monkey food, and “monkey biscuits.” Each day the bowls have contained at least eight different foods, including mixed fruit and veggie salads! The favorite food of all the monkeys I’ve seen is grapes. The munchkins receive ¼ of a grape in their breakfast bowls, and every single monkey I saw reached in and pulled out the sliver of grape to eat first.

I’ve also been helping with cleaning the cages and indoor enclosures. All monkeys here have access to both indoor and outdoor spaces. On cold days (which, surprisingly to me, do happen here in the Gainesville area—sometimes temps even dip below freezing) they have to be brought indoors for their own safety.

Last night it rained all night, and today it is raining all day (high of 63F/17C) so I’ve chosen this as a day off, and I’m staying inside.

In the past few days, though, when the weather was drier and a bit warmer, I was able to visit several nature parks. The Gainesville area is home to a surprisingly large number of nature parks, springs, etc.

The first one, Alfred A. Ring, I visited on my bike ride from my hotel to the sanctuary, and although it was a small park—mostly just a trail—it felt delightful to walk in the lush foliage.

Then yesterday afternoon, a local woman named Lora and her husband Mike—both of whom used to work or volunteer here, years ago—picked me up and took me to a couple other parks.

First we visited Poe Springs, which is a popular swimming hole in the summer. We were wearing sweaters, but we did see a couple of intrepid young people dunking themselves in the water anyway.

Then we tried to visit Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park—the pics on Google Maps looked beautiful—but sadly it was closed for renovations.

Next, we went to O’Leno State Park, where the drought has left the water level lower than Lora and Mike had ever seen. Just in the past week, an algae bloom had covered all the water in the creek. I know that is not healthy for the aquatic life, but it was very beautifully surreal to see.

Afterward, we all returned to Jungle Friends and met up with its founder, Kari, who shared vegan apple pie and ice cream with us as we all chatted, and the three of them got to catch up on the times they had spent together.

I’m looking forward to meeting many more of the monkeys in the coming week, and also visiting some more nature parks. (I keep hearing good things about Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park, which consists primarily of a giant sinkhole.)

If you’d like to learn more about monkeys, or Jungle Friends specifically, take a look at their comprehensive website, which includes some great videos as well.

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