How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)
In 1938, an American primatologist imported a colony of monkeys from India to the Caribbean Island of Cayo Santiago, creating a field site for studying these monkeys in the wild. The small island about a mile offshore from Puerto Rico was uninhabited and proved to be a great place to study the monkey’s behavior.
Over time, scientists observed these monkeys being very territorial, aggressive and anti-social. They were super-competitive and intolerant of others. Researchers described them as “despotic.” Then a strange thing happened.
Hurricane Maria tore across the tiny island in 2017 leaving a trail of destruction. Scientists have no idea how the population of monkeys survived the storm which destroyed almost two-thirds of the vegetation. Without the tree cover, the monkeys had far less shade to escape the 100-plus degree heat that is common on the island.
After the storm, researchers were surprised to observe the monkeys sitting closer together, sharing what little shade they could find. They even seemed more tolerant of others when they weren’t sharing the shade and showed signs of being less aggressive. One researcher thinks getting all hot and bothered with an adversary isn’t worth it when you’re already so hot and bothered!
It took a crisis for these monkeys to learn to “live together in unity.” If only we humans could learn to share and get along with one another before we face our own crisis of such proportions. How very good and pleasant that would be!
You can click HERE for a link to the story from NPR.
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