Morgan Island (Monkey Island), South Carolina
Morgan Island, located north of Beaufort in South Carolina, is also known as Monkey Island. It got its nickname from the colony of around 4,000 rhesus monkeys living there. However, the population is not native as the monkeys were relocated there from La Parguera, Puerto Rico. As monkeys infected with herpes B virus started escaping and La Parguera was overpopulated with monkeys, South Carolina offered to relocate the colony to their uninhabitated, Morgan Island. Currently, the law prohibits anyone visiting the island for their own (as well as monkey’s) safety. The only people allowed on the island are researchers working for National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who own the monkeys living there.