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Mandrill - MANDRILLUS SPHINX

Endangered

Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
Subclass: True Mammals (Eutheria)
Order: First Order Mammals (Primatea)
Family: Cercopithecidae.

The word "Mandrill": "Mandrill" is actually two words. "Man" simply means "man-like," while "drill" is a West African name for the animal.

Location: Tropical forests in the Cameroons and Gabon in Western Africa.

Habitat: Terrestrial. Primary tropical forests.

Description: In the adult male the face, which is deeply grooved, is scarlet in the central area and bluest on the sides. His hindquarters are hairless and vividly colored: the area around the anus is scarlet, and the calluses are pink and violet. The genitals themselves are pink and red. The fur in both sexes is grayish brown. The female is less colorful, lacking the red on the nose and having smaller bluish areas on the sides of the face. In both the tail is short and the neck and shoulders are covered by a thick mane (thicker in the male). The head and body of the mandrill reach about 38 in, the tail 30 in, and weight about 100 lbs, with females much smaller.

Behavior: The mandrill lives in primary forest which has frequent clearings, which allows this species to roam freely on the ground. It is in fact a ground-based monkey, only retreating into the frees to defend itself or to sleep at night. It lives in large groups, numbering up to 50 individuals, and it occupies fairly small areas as a group. It is omnivorous, although plant matter forms the bulk of its diet. Its principal enemy is the leopard, but it is also actively hunted by humans because it often causes considerable damage to crops.

Reproduction: Gestation lasts about 250 days and the usually single offspring is carried about by its mother by clinging to her back or belly.