--- title: "Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "Males are the largest monkeys alive, with faces colored blue by light-scattering collagen and red by blood, and canine teeth whose length tracks their breeding years." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/mandrill-1.webp" published: "2026-09-01" updated: "2026-09-23" --- # Mandrill (*Mandrillus sphinx*) > **Status**: Checked against 8 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: Males are the largest monkeys alive, with faces colored blue by light-scattering collagen and red by blood, and canine teeth whose length tracks their breeding years. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: 70s Pop & Glam Disco // David Bowie, "The Jean Genie" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/6uZtMNTfU5u8w6fsnXeOdb) > **Vibe Match**: Glam rock turned face paint into a statement, and the Aladdin Sane lightning bolt is red and blue, like a male mandrill's face. His blue comes from collagen fibers laid out in near-regular arrays that scatter light, his red from blood, and the more saturated both colors, the higher he ranks. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Mandrillus sphinx* - **Danger Level**: High - **Conservation Status**: Vulnerable ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2019-3.rlts.t12754a17952325.en)) - **Superpower**: Skin colored blue by light-scattering collagen and red by blood, both most saturated in the top-ranked males. - **Habitat**: Primary rainforest, and secondary forest too, in southwestern Cameroon, western Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and southwestern Congo - **Diet**: Fruit, seeds, fungi, roots, and insects, plus snails, worms, frogs, lizards, and sometimes snakes and small vertebrates - **Tags**: primate, rainforest, omnivore ## Natural History & Behavior ## A Face Built From Light and Blood Male mandrills are the largest monkeys alive, and their faces look airbrushed: blue ridges run down each side of the muzzle, with a red stripe down its middle and around the nostrils. The blue comes from coherent scattering: collagen fibers in the skin, the protein that makes skin tough, are laid out in nearly regular arrays that scatter light into blue. The red comes from blood. The more saturated the colors, the higher the rank. Researchers who measured facial color in 34 adult males, living in forested enclosures at a medical research center in Gabon, found that higher-ranking males carry more saturated blue and red than lower-ranking ones, and that the contrast between the two colors indicates rank more accurately than either color alone. Top-ranked males also have the most testosterone, which saturates red skin by widening its blood vessels. A change in rank shows on the skin. In a study of two groups in similar enclosures, the four males who rose to alpha rank gained testosterone and redder skin on the face and genitals, while the four who lost alpha rank saw their red patches shrink. Blue stayed the same either way. > **A mandrill's chest carries a scent gland.** Males rub it on objects, and the chemical mix of its secretion carries the owner's sex and age, plus rank in males. ## Built Like a Heavyweight Males weigh 18 to 33 kilograms (about 55 pounds) and stand about 80 centimeters (32 inches) tall. Females are about half their size, at 11 to 13 kilograms (about 25 pounds). In human care, a mandrill's median life expectancy is about 20 years. Mandrill canine teeth can be more than 5 centimeters (2 inches) long, and a long-term study tied them to breeding. Males fathered offspring almost exclusively once their canines passed roughly 30 millimeters, about two-thirds of the average adult length of 45 millimeters, and fathers had larger canines than males that sired none. Wear shrinks the tooth with age, in step with the end of a male's breeding years. ## Rainforest Omnivores Mandrills live in southwestern Cameroon, western Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and southwestern Congo, preferring primary rainforest but also using secondary forest. Males spend most of their time foraging on the ground, while females and young find food in the trees, and mandrills climb trees to sleep, picking a different tree each evening. They eat fruit, seeds, fungi, roots, and insects, plus snails, worms, frogs, lizards, and sometimes snakes and small vertebrates. Their natural predators are probably limited to leopards, crowned eagles, and possibly chimpanzees and some snakes. In 1983 the researcher Michael Harrison was following a group of about 40 mandrills in Gabon when they flushed a leopard from a small cave. The mandrills scattered, screaming; most climbed into the lower canopy and kept watching the leopard as it walked calmly away. ## Hordes on the Move Groups vary from 15 animals to aggregations of 250 or more, and two studies found larger groups more common in the lesser fruiting season. Small units often join up into larger groups called hordes, and one of the largest documented numbered more than 1,200 mandrills. The IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable. Illegal logging, forest clearing for farms, and the growing commercial bushmeat trade threaten it. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What produces the blue and red colors on a male mandrill's face? The blue comes from coherent scattering: collagen fibers in the skin, the protein that makes skin tough, are laid out in nearly regular arrays that scatter light into blue. The red comes from blood. Top-ranked males have the most testosterone, which saturates red skin by widening its blood vessels. *(Source: [Renoult et al. 2011]())* ### Why do a male mandrill's canine teeth matter? A long-term study found that males fathered offspring almost exclusively once their canines passed roughly 30 millimeters, about two-thirds of the average adult length of 45 millimeters, and fathers had larger canines than males that sired none. Wear shrinks the tooth with age, in step with the end of a male's breeding years. *(Source: [Leigh et al. 2008]())* ### How large can a mandrill group get? Mandrills live in small social units that often join other groups to form larger ones called hordes. One of the largest groups documented numbered more than 1,200 mandrills. Hordes are noisy, keeping in touch with deep grunts and high-pitched screams while they forage and travel. *(Source: [San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance]())* ## Sources 1. [Mandrillus sphinx (mandrill). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]() 2. [Mandrill. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.]() 3. [Abernethy & Maisels (2019). Mandrillus sphinx. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T12754A17952325.]() 4. [Renoult et al. (2011). The Evolution of the Multicoloured Face of Mandrills: Insights from the Perceptual Space of Colour Vision. PLoS ONE.]() 5. [Setchell & Dixson (2001). Changes in the Secondary Sexual Adornments of Male Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) Are Associated with Gain and Loss of Alpha Status. Hormones and Behavior.]() 6. [Leigh et al. (2008). Canine tooth size and fitness in male mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx). Journal of Human Evolution.]() 7. [Setchell et al. (2010). Chemical Composition of Scent-Gland Secretions in an Old World Monkey (Mandrillus sphinx): Influence of Sex, Male Status, and Individual Identity. Chemical Senses.]() 8. [Harrison (1988). The mandrill in Gabon's rain forest - ecology, distribution and status. Oryx.]() *Published September 1, 2026. 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