The mandrill takes the prize as the most colorful monkey on Earth. These primates live in groups with 40-50 individuals and travel through the African rainforest as they search for food. Male mandrills-which have brightly colored faces-lead the troop. They not only make calls and grunts to communicate with other monkeys but also use facial expressions to signal their moods. These intelligent animals teach their young how to pick out the right plants to eat and will even discipline a young monkey for acting up.
Extra Long in the Tooth: Most primates (apes and monkeys) have big canine teeth, but few compare to those of the mandrill. This monkey's "fangs" are two and a half inches long! They use them both to kill small prey and intimidate larger enemies.
Join In: Mandrills live in groups with up to 50 other monkeys, with each troop containing a single adult male, several adult females and their young. Several groups may join together during the dry seasons and numbers up to 200 mandrills; this gives them added protection against predators.
Say What?[]
Mandrills forage at ground level, though males occasionally munch on leaves in a tree to watch over the troop.
Mandrills are highly intelligent creatures, and even have a "language" of their own. These monkeys communicate with others in their group with grunts, growls, screams, facial expressions and even hand gestures. Scientists have identified at least 16 combinations of sounds and gestures that have specific meanings to the animals. For example, two grunts usually means "turn around" or "stop" when the mandrills are on the move, a growl often means "leave me alone," and an open mouth without teeth showing means "let's play."
Mandrill the Red-Nosed Monkey: This monkey's most striking feature is the male's long nose, which is bright red down the middle with folds of blue or white skin around it. The bright colors help scare predators and attract females.
Show Off: If a predator is spotted, the dominant male of a mandrill group rushes out to meet it. The monkey screams and shows off its huge canines to scare the enemy. Mandrills have been seen scaring off beasts as large as leopards.
Monkey Fight[]
As young males in a group mature, they often challenge the dominant male (which is usually their father) for leadership of the group. The two mandrills bare their canine teeth and charge toward each other while screaming. The rivals never actually touch, but the first one to back down is the loser.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The front illustration is also used in the Wildlife Explorer series for the Mandrill's profile. The main difference is the illustration here is given an angry-looking expression to play up the "Nightmares of Nature" aspect, while in the Wildlife Explorer version of the illustration, it has a neutral face, as the latter series is more focused on profile animals rather than playing into their strangeness or danger.
- It is one of two primates featured in Nightmares of Nature, alongside the Hamadryas Baboon.
- The mandrill is featured in Know Your Noses on Monster Mania 86.