Monday, October 18, 2010

Largest Monkey In The World


Do you know the largest monkey in the world? It is Mandrills.

Mandrills are the largest of all monkeys. They are shy and cloistered primates that live only in the rain forests of equatorial Africa.

Mandrills are extremely colorful, perhaps more so than any other animal. They are easily identifiable by the blue and red skin on their faces and their brightly hued rumps. These distinctive colors become brighter when the animal is keyed up. They also have extremely long canine teeth that can be used for self-defense Hough baring them is typically a friendly sign among mandrills.

These are primarily terrestrial monkeys, and they move with long arms to scavenge on the ground for fruits, roots, and animals such as insects, reptiles, and amphibians. Their cheeks have built-in pouches that are used to store snacks for later consumption. Though mandrills spend much of their time on the ground, they can climb trees and do so to sleep.

Mandrills live in troops, which are bossed by a dominant male and include a dozen or more females and young. They also gather in multi-male/multi-female groups that can include some 200 individuals.

These colorful primates are threatened. They are often hunted as bushmeat, and many Africans consider them to be fragility. Mandrills are feeling the squeeze of spreading agriculture and human settlement both are shrinking their rain forest homeland.