Mandrills Are The World's Largest Monkeys And Can Live In Groups Of Over 800 Individuals

Wander into the wrong bit of forest in Gabon’s Lopé 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 “hordes,” and suffice to say, it’s not a party you want to crash with your puny human teeth. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Native to the rainforests of central Africa, mandrills ( Mandrillus sphinx ) are the largest monkeys in the world . 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, meani