Mandrills are the world's largest monkeys, living in enormous multi-male, multi-female groups called hordes whose complex social lives are highly sensitive to habitat disruption and hunting pressure.
Mandrill welfare is primarily threatened by bushmeat hunting, which causes suffering at multiple levels simultaneously. Adult mandrills shot for bushmeat experience traumatic injuries from firearms — wounding rather than clean kills is common, causing prolonged deaths in the forest. The social disruption of hunting pressure fragments super-hordes and disrupts the complex social hierarchies through which mandrills access food, mates and protection. Infants captured when their mothers are killed for bushmeat experience acute trauma — the death of the mother is distressing to witness, and subsequent captivity in inappropriate conditions causes severe psychological harm. Habitat destruction from logging and agricultural expansion reduces food availability and forces groups into smaller, less productive areas, increasing nutritional stress. In captivity, mandrills generally do well in social groups at accredited facilities, but require large, complex environments and stable social management to prevent welfare problems.