Mandrill/Mandrillus sphinx:

Size:The male has a head and body of 24 - 30 inches in length with a tail that is usually a 3 inches long.

Weight: The average body mass for an adult male mandrill is between 21 and 28 kilograms, and for the female it is between 11 and 12 kilograms.

Distribution: They live in Africa, from Cameroon to Gabon and Guinea, in Equatorial West Africa. This species is found in dense primary rainforest.

Appearance: The mandrill is a gentle animal whose most ferocious feature is its face. Its head is large compared to the body and is shaped roughly like a dog's. Its whitish beard together with its reddish nose and the bluish cheek areas makes it stand out among other many other primates. The prominent ridges on either sides of the nose are outgrowths of ridged and grooved bone, more colorful and pronounced in adult males. Adult males have purple grooves and small, blue ridges with bright, scarlet noses while females and young males have black noses and no purple grooves.

The mandrill's coat is of various shades of olive-brown to brownish-black with a underside that is gray with yellowish wash. The blue patches found on a mandrill are structural while red is a skin pigment. The mandrill’s teeth is well adapted for fighting and its large, strong hands are well in turning over stones and debris to find food. The Mandrill’s buttock color is created by blood vessels. In addition, lilac tinge on pads and adjacent skin, red purple at edges. The colour is intensified by excitement.

Behavior: The mandrill has a unimale social system, with the leader male receiving most of the copulations. These small groups come together with other groups to form troops of up to 250 individuals. They feed on the ground by day and sleep in trees at night. The main enemy is the leopard. Family groups consist of an old male and several females and their young. These troops will sometimes join with several others temporarily to form troops of up to 250 individuals.

Like the drill, the mandrill moves through the forest floor quadrupedally travelling as far as twelve miles for its food.

Diet: It feeds on a variety of small animals, including spiders, snails, worms, ants, and small ground vertebrates. It also eats grasses, herbs, shoots, bark, tubers, roots, nuts and fruit.

Reproduction: A single young can be born at any time of the year (though often Dec.-Feb.), after a 7 month gestation. Mandrills usually have one offspring.

Lifespan: Mandrills usually live to up to 46 years.

Conservation: The number of mandrills in Africa has been dropping rapidly due to the hunting and deforestation going on in Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon. It is at risk of being endangered and something must be done to protect the mandrills.