Distinctive Features

A mother and female mandrill baby photographed recently at the Bronx Zoo’s Congo Gorilla Forest.

Mandrills are the world’s most colorful primates, with dramatic red and blue facial markings – particularly on adult males.

Studies by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the parent organization of the Bronx Zoo, have shown that mandrills live in female-dominated societies with males remaining solitary, except when it’s time to breed – an unusual trait for primates.  WCS helped create a series of national parks in Gabon to protect mandrills, as well as gorillas, elephants, hippos and other flagship African wildlife.

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