95: Untamed pt.2: Monkeying Around

Mar 53 min read

Updated: Mar 21

"Wild monkeys escape" might feel like a concerning headline. But if you're one inventive business owner outside of New York City, it might be the best thing to ever happen. This week, Maia covers the story of untamed monkeys who seek greener pastures on the other side of their enclosure. But once they're out, we have to ask "how do you catch a monkey?" This week, the story of Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Buck and the Long Island Monkey Escape of 1935!

When a routine zoo cleaning goes wrong, 175 monkeys decide to explore Long Island—and nothing will stop them. In 1935, famed animal collector Frank Buck’s “Monkey Mountain” became ground zero for one of the wildest jailbreaks you’ve never heard of: train-blocking primates, frantic zookeepers, fruit-stand raids, and a mischievous monkey ringleader called “Al Capone.” This mass escape hijacked headlines far beyond New York, fueling the frenzy around exotic pets and raising questions about how prepared anyone was to corral these curious creatures. Join us for a hilarious and unbelievable tale of animal adventure, where truth is definitely stranger than fiction—and where even a quiet suburb can suddenly become a jungle.

Chapters/Key Takeaways

00:00:00] Catch-Up: Light-hearted banter about personal experiences, Super Bowl, and fashion trends
00:26:39] Alpha Genesis Escape: Why monkeys on the loose in South Carolina set the stage for our trek back in time
00:40:50] Frank Buck: How a seventh-grade dropout became America’s most famous exotic animal trader
00:51:26] Presidential Pets: Quirky White House pets and how common exotic pets were in the early 1900s
01:05:21] Back to Buck: Frank Buck’s adventures, film career, and challenges
01:20:40] The Escape & Chaos: The Great Monkey Escape of 1935 on Long Island
01:49:58] Final Thoughts: Frank Buck’s lasting legacy: From World’s Fairs to zoo exhibits named in his honor

Photos Referenced:

Headline for monkey escape — *New York Times Aug 22 via Times Machine (NY Times)*

Female Rhesus Macaques in Puerto Rice - courtesy of Lauren JN Brent	Frank Buck - courtesy of his autobiography All In a Lifetime
Frank Buck's Monkey Mountain in 1939 - Courtesy Hofstra University Special Collections, Long Island Studies Institute, Creative Commons	St Louis Dispatch via Newspapers.com

Quotes:

“Even the silliest people you can imagine can leave an impactful lesson for us to unpack years later.” - Grant Thomas
“Impactful to know that that laugh does not mean you are abandoning your like, civic duties, but instead, like, just remembering why you have that duty in the first place.” - Grant Thomas
“Rhesus macaques share 93% of the same DNA as humans, which is the justification for using them for animal testing. That's too bad for them.” - Maia Warner
“Bringing over exotic animals can lead to a lot of ecological damage, like the Burmese python in the Florida Everglades.” - Maia Warner

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