Mandrills are the world's largest monkeys, living in forest troops across Central Africa. Their complex social behavior and ecological needs present significant welfare challenges in both wild and captive settings.
Wild mandrill populations suffer directly from bushmeat hunting, which targets large males disproportionately, disrupting social structures. Forest fragmentation forces troops into smaller areas with reduced food diversity, increasing competition and stress. In captivity, the social complexity of mandrill troops is extremely difficult to replicate - captive groups are rarely large enough to allow the normal formation of male dominance hierarchies and female kin networks. The intense male competition for status can lead to serious injuries in insufficiently large enclosures. Mandrills have large home range requirements that no zoo can meet. Their specialized foraging behavior cannot be expressed in captive environments, and behavioral abnormalities including stereotypic pacing are common.