Stronger Together: What Monkeys Taught Us About Human Resilience
In the Caribbean, off the coast of Puerto Rico, there’s a place called Cayo Santiago, also known as Monkey Island.
It’s home to over a thousand free-ranging rhesus macaques and has been the site of one of the longest-running primate studies in the world. But one of the most striking discoveries didn’t come from a lab—it came after a hurricane.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, devastated the island. Researchers returned to assess the damage—not just to the infrastructure, but to the monkeys.
What they found stunned them.
The monkeys who had more social connections—more grooming partners, more friendly interactions, more allies—were more resilient. They adapted faster. Their stress hormones were lower. They were more likely to survive, thrive, and return to baseline functioning than those with fewer connections (Testard et al., 2021).
Connection Is Not a Luxury—It’s Survival
This isn’t just a story about monkeys. It’s a mirror for us.
Study after study confirms that strong, supportive social networks are the single greatest predictor of resilience and long-term wellbeing in humans—more than diet, more than exercise, more than even genetic risk factors.
In fact, Harvard’s 80-year longitudinal study on adult development found that the quality of our relationships is the strongest predictor of both happiness and longevity (Waldinger & Schulz, 2023).
People with strong social bonds live longer
They recover more quickly from illness and trauma
They experience lower levels of chronic stress and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety
Their immune systems function better, and they’re more likely to maintain purpose, motivation, and cognitive clarity as they age
And perhaps most importantly for public safety professionals: social connection helps prevent burnout and serves as a powerful buffer against the daily trauma and isolation that can build up on the job.
But Connection Takes Work—Especially in Public Safety
The reality is: this job can make connection hard.
When your daily experience is different from 99% of the population, it’s easy to become insular—to stay within the in-group of other officers, dispatchers, EMTs, or correctional professionals. That in-group is important. It offers shared understanding. But if it becomes your only group, it can actually limit your long-term emotional health and resilience.
True connection—the kind that protects your nervous system and helps you thrive—requires more than shared profession. It requires:
Emotional availability
Shared vulnerability
A willingness to be seen and supported as your whole self—not just your role
As Dr. Brené Brown reminds us:
“Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued.”
We all need people who can see past the uniform and hold space for the human underneath. And we all need to make time for relationships that aren’t about duty or trauma—but about shared joy, curiosity, and presence.
What Meaningful Connection Really Looks Like
Strong social connections don’t require you to have a huge circle. What matters is depth and authenticity—a few real relationships where you can:
Tell the truth without fear
Share both your struggles and your celebrations
Feel emotionally safe
Know you’ll be supported when things get hard
These relationships create biological safety. They reduce cortisol, increase oxytocin, and activate the ventral vagal system—the part of the nervous system responsible for calm, connection, and recovery.
Take This With You: Connection Challenge
This week, invest in connection. Choose one of the following paths:
Option 1: Reconnect with someone who matters.
Text or call someone you love but haven’t spent time with recently.
Schedule a coffee, a walk, a phone call—anything that creates space to be together, not just talk logistics.
Let them know you miss them. Tell them something real. Be present.
Option 2: Expand your circle.
If your social life could use some expansion, find an event, class, or activity that reflects your interests or hobbies.
Whether it’s a hiking group, a music night, a workout class, or a community gathering—put yourself in a place where new connections can form. Be open. Be curious.
Final Thought: Resilience Grows in Relationship
After the storm on Monkey Island, it wasn’t strength or strategy that determined survival. It was connection.
The same is true for us.
Whether you’re in the middle of a storm or just preparing for the next one, your relationships are your anchor. Don’t wait until everything falls apart to invest in the people who keep you grounded.
Because resilience isn’t just about bouncing back.
It’s about who you bounce back with.
Works Cited
Testard, C., Brent, L. J. N., Andersson, R., Chiou, K. L., Allen, W. L., Gonzalez, O., … & Higham, J. P. (2021). Social connections predict resilience in rhesus macaques following a natural disaster. Current Biology, 31(11), 2299-2309.e4.
Waldinger, R. J., & Schulz, M. S. (2023). The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. Simon & Schuster.