(_Maimon mormon_)
The mandrill is a highly specialised and at the same time extremely
hideous West African representative of the dog-faced baboons, nearly
all of which are confined to Africa south of the Sahara, although
one species is a native of southern Arabia. All these baboons have
the long straight muzzles from which the group derives its name, and
all except the subject of the accompanying Plate are more or less
uniformly coloured animals, with, in most cases, comparatively long
tails. The mandrill and its ally and compatriot the drill are, however,
distinguished from all their relatives by the reduction of the tail to
a mere stump; while old males of the former are further characterised
by the presence of large fluted swellings on the sides of the muzzle
and the brilliant colouring of these and the other bare parts in this
region, while a nearly equal brilliancy is developed in the naked
patches on the rump.
To the female mandrill, who, as shown in the Plate, lacks the nasal
swellings and brilliant hues of her lord and master, this style of
decoration may, and probably does, appear beautiful, but to ourselves
it is simply hideous and repulsive, as are the manners and ways of
this monstrous ape. The nature of the colouring of the old males is
sufficiently indicated in the coloured Plate; but it may be mentioned
that the scarlet area on the muzzle has the appearance of vermilion
sealing-wax, while the ultramarine of the lateral swellings is suffused
in the flutings with shades of violet, more especially when the animal
is under the influence of excitement. Indeed, when in this condition,
all the colours are intensified and heightened.
In size the male mandrill may be compared to a short-bodied mastiff,
while in strength and ferocity it has few equals, so that it is rightly
dreaded by all the natives of West Africa. The female is a much smaller
and much less powerful animal.
The mandrill, which is one of the shyest of all apes, inhabits the
rocky parts of mountain forests in the Gold Coast, Guinea, and the
adjacent districts of West Africa. Its food consists of fruits, bulbous
plants, grass, and various other herbage, birds’ eggs, and all small
animals that it can capture.
When captured young, the mandrill is sufficiently amiable, and for a
time it remains tame and amenable; but, in the case of males at any
rate, in the course of a few years its naturally evil disposition
asserts itself, and it soon becomes one of the most vicious and
disgusting brutes in creation. Indeed, there is not a good word to
be said in its favour. In confinement the rage of the old males is
something frightful, and it takes but little to excite them to
this frenzied condition, when they shake the bars of their cages, and
endeavour to rush upon the objects of their aversion. Little wonder
that the West Coast natives dread the mandrill more than they do the
lion.
[Illustration]
Information is still required as to the habits of the mandrill in a
state of nature; and it does not appear to be known whether these apes
associate in large droves, after the manner of the ordinary dog-faced
baboons, or whether they go about in pairs.
Here it may be mentioned that the name mandrill apparently signifies a
man-like baboon, although there is little approximating to the human
type in either the physiognomy or the general appearance of this
hideous creature; the name drill being an old English word, of which
one signification denotes an ape or baboon. By the Germans the mandrill
is known as the forest-devil, which is perhaps a more appropriate
designation; while by one of the older English naturalists it was
termed the rib-faced ape, in allusion to the fluted, melon-shaped
swellings on the sides of the muzzle.
The drill (_M. leucophæus_), which is likewise West African, but
appears to have a more extensive range in that part of the continent,
is a smaller animal than the mandrill, with only small swellings on
the face of the old male, which is uniformly black. The bare patches
on the rump are, however, bright red; but the tail, which is carried
bent forwards over the rump in a similar manner, is hairy on all sides,
instead of having its lower surface bare, as in the mandrill. The
limbs, moreover, are longer and more slender than in the mandrill; and
in fact in all these particulars the drill tends to form in some degree
a connecting link between the former and more ordinary baboons.