Mandrill

The mandrill is the largest species of monkey in the world, found in the tropical rainforests of central Africa, including Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of the Congo. Males are strikingly colored, with a bright red and blue ridged muzzle, a yellow beard, and vivid red and purple markings on the hindquarters, colors that intensify with social status and are thought to signal dominance and fitness; females and juveniles are far more subdued in coloring. Mandrills live in some of the largest social groups known among primates, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, led within a matriarchal core of related females and their offspring alongside a dominant male. They are omnivorous, foraging on the forest floor for fruit, seeds, fungi, insects and small vertebrates, and spend most of their time on the ground despite being capable climbers. Habitat loss and bushmeat hunting have reduced mandrill numbers across their range, and the species is classified as vulnerable.