Wander into the wrong bit of forest in Gabon\u2019s Lop\u00e9 National Park and you could find yourself surrounded by a troop of over 800 primates. Here, mandrills are known to roam the forest in enormous groups called \u201chordes,\u201d and suffice to say, it\u2019s not a party you want to crash with your puny human teeth.<\/p>\n
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.<\/p>\n
Native to the rainforests of central Africa, mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) are the largest monkeys in the world<\/a>. They may be mistaken for apes due to their apparent lack of tail (the easiest way to tell a monkey from an ape is to see if it has a tail), but mandrills are Old World monkeys and do actually have stubby little tails. They also exhibit pretty extreme sexual dimorphism, meaning the males look very different from the females.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not hard to spot the difference. The males\u2019 faces are plastered in a rather dramatic display of blue, red, and yellow (if you\u2019re a Lion King fan, then yes, this is indeed Rafiki\u2019s species). Not only are they massive, but Africa Geographic<\/a> reports they aggregate in the largest known groups of any non-human primate species.<\/p>\n Mandrill males also stand out from the females for their gaping mouths and enormous teeth. The biggest of their gnashers can be over 5 centimeters (2 inches) long (and when it comes to making baby mandrills, tooth size<\/a> is everything). So, does that impressive dentistry mean they\u2019re voracious carnivores? Not really.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mandrills are omnivores who enjoy everything from fruit and fungi to insects and small reptiles. Sounds pretty chill, right? That is, until they get into a fight.<\/p>\n