Mandrill

Mandrillus sphinx · The mandrill is a large, strikingly colorful Old World monkey native to the rainforests of west-central Africa.

Also called Mandril.

Mandrill
Photo: Katma0601, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mandrill
Photo: Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mandrill
Photo: Kitty Terwolbeck from The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassMammalia
OrderPrimates
FamilyCercopithecidae
GenusMandrillus
SpeciesMandrillus sphinx

Where it lives

Rainforests of Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Congo.

Fun facts

  • Mandrills are the largest monkey species and the most sexually dimorphic primate in the world.
  • A male mandrill's canine teeth can grow up to 4.5 cm (about 1.8 inches) long.
  • The blue skin on a mandrill's face isn't from pigment—it's produced by collagen fibers arranged in a special structure.
  • Mandrills sometimes hunt larger prey like baby duikers, killing them with a bite to the head.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).