Original generated image: Leonida's macaques have not been shown yet. Image: Leonidaguide
The rhesus macaque is the most unexpected of the animals confirmed for GTA 6. Game Informer’s article on Leonida’s 170-plus species, published in late September 2026, puts it at the end of the list of invasive species, after green iguanas, cane toads and feral cats, and heads off the reader’s surprise with an aside: yes, Florida has monkeys.
Why there are monkeys in Florida
Game Informer’s aside has a true story behind it. In the 1930s a group of rhesus macaques was released along the river at Silver Springs, in central Florida, to make a tourist attraction’s boat rides more exotic. The monkeys adapted and multiplied, and today they are a wild population that authorities consider invasive, partly because some carry a virus dangerous to humans.
It is the kind of detail that shows how Rockstar built Leonida’s wildlife: not a postcard Florida, but the real one, with all its quirks, from iguanas in the city to alligators in the swamps. The image on this entry is generated by us in a game style, not an official screenshot.
