Mandrills
Mandrillus sphinx
Mandrills are the world's largest monkeys, Old World primates of the Central African rainforest known for the vivid blue and red facial ridges of dominant males.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Primates
- Family
- Cercopithecidae
Other Names
Mandrill
Size
Males up to 3 feet tall and up to 73 lbs; females notably smaller.
Description
Olive-brown fur with a vivid blue and red facial ridge pattern, most intense in dominant males.
Behavior
Mostly terrestrial, traveling in some of the largest stable groups known among wild primates.
Diet
Omnivorous — fruit, seeds, fungi, insects and small vertebrates.
Communication
Grunts and roars; facial coloring itself signals rank and status.
Habitat
Rainforests of Cameroon, Gabon and the Congo.
Life Cycle & Society
- Gestation
- ~175 days
- Sexually Mature
- 4–5 years (F) · 8–10 years (M)
- Life Span
- 20 years wild, up to 31 in captivity
- Athleticism
- Strong terrestrial mover, capable climber
- Conservation Status
- Vulnerable
Mandrills live in large multi-female groups led by a single dominant male, with these "hordes" sometimes merging into aggregations of several hundred individuals — among the largest non-human primate groups ever recorded in the wild.
