MAMMAL MONDAY # 28

MAMMAL MONDAY # 28

Happy Mammal Monday! We’re extra excited for you to meet today’s primate! We’re heading to the rainforests of Central Africa! These monkeys have brightly colored faces! Grab your bug spray and your rain gear and let’s head into the forest to see these majestic animals!

MEET THE MANDRILL!

   Range/Habitat: Western Central Africa/ rainforests

   Diet: Omnivore: fruit, seeds, invertebrates

   Length/Weight: 25-32”/24- 82 lbs

  Conservation Status: vulnerable

Fun Facts:

• Mandrills are the largest of all monkeys.
• They have brightly colored faces with red and blue.
• Mandrills also have brightly colored rumps with short tails.
• Mandrills have large 2 ½ inch canine teeth. They will bear them to other mandrills; it is most often a friendly gesture.
• They are related to baboons, but are not baboons.
• Mandrills store food in their cheeks while they’re foraging.
• They spend most of their lives on the ground, but sleep in the trees.
• Female mandrills are much smaller than the males.
• They live in troupes. The troupes are led by a dominant male and include females, young and non-ranking males.  Troupes will also join other groups and form large hordes.

We just love the colorful Mandrill. They have a very interesting social structure and are very intelligent. Unfortunately their rainforest home is disappearing. Doing things like recycling paper can really help protect our rainforest homes! Who’s up for recycling as much paper as they can? We are!