Monkey Island at Fejervary Park in Davenport

Visitors at Monkey Island

Fejervary Park has an island inhabited by seventy monkeys, running around the rocks like they’ve got somewhere urgent to be, splashing in the water, screaming at each other. Acting like the place is one wrong look away from turning into a full-blown riot.

From a distance, it looks cute. Up close, you realize it’s a setup.

There’s a concrete wall around the lagoon, and the water’s kept low on purpose so the monkeys can’t use it like a springboard and launch themselves out of there. No grand escape. No heroic leap. Just a shallow moat and a reminder that the island is more stage than wilderness.

Still, they’ve made a life in it. A whole little kingdom.

The boss is a monkey named Pat. If you have any doubts, toss a peanut into the lagoon and watch the room change. If Pat moves toward it, the rest of the troop steps back like they didn’t want it, anyway. Pat takes what he wants, and no one argues. That’s the system.

Some inhabitants of Monkey Island. Pat, the leader, 
on the right

And if some young hotshot gets too loud, proud, or hopped up on his own energy—Pat handles it the old-fashioned way. A quick slap upside the head, a chase to the corner, and the island settles back into its usual level of madness. Pat isn’t cruel. He’s just not interested in letting amateurs run the show.

When the sun goes down, they disappear into the cave underneath the island, and the lagoon goes quiet, like the whole place finally exhaled. For a little while, you can almost pretend it’s peaceful.

The weird part is this isn’t some common park gimmick. As far as anyone knows, there are only two other monkey colonies like this in the entire country—one in Racine and one in Milwaukee.