American mandrill

The **American mandrill** (*Allomandrillolemur sphinxus*), also known as the **American mandrill lemur**, is a species of adapiform primate, despite its name, that originally did not exist, but has since been created by SciiFii and introduced throughout the rainforests, wetlands, forests, and open woodlands across North America to help boost biodiversity. The American mandrill has a dark grey pelage with lighter grey and black bands and a white belly. Its face is black in color and has an elongated hairless muzzle with distinctive characteristics, such as a red stripe down the middle and protruding blue ridges on the sides, which is similar to those of mandrills, hence its name. It also has red nostrils and lips, a yellow beard and white tufts. The areas around the bottom are multi-colored, being red, pink, blue, scarlet, and purple. They also have pale pink ischial callosities. The coloration of the American mandrill is more pronounced in dominant adult males. Both sexes have chest glands, which are used in olfactory communication. These, too, are more prominent in dominant adult males. Males also have longer canines than females, which can be up to 6.50 centimeters (2.56 inches) and 1.0 centimeters, respectively. The American mandrill is one of the most sexually dimorphic North American mammals due to extremely strong sexual selection which favors males in both size and coloration. Males typically weigh 19–37 kilograms (42–82 lb), with an average mass of 32.3 kilograms (71 lb). Females weigh roughly half as much as the male, at 10–15 kilograms (22–33 lb) and an average of 12.4 kilograms (27 lb). Exceptionally large males can weigh up to 54 kilograms (119 lb), with some reports of outsized American mandrills weighing 60 kilograms (130 lb). The American mandrill is an omnivore. It usually consumes plants, of which it eats more than a hundred species. It prefers to eat fruits and leaves, but will also eat roots, tubers, pine needles, lianas, bark, stems, and fibers. It also consumes mushrooms and soil. Carnivorously, American mandrills mostly eat invertebrates, particularly ants, beetles, termites, crickets, spiders, snails, and scorpions. It will also eat eggs, and even vertebrates such as birds, tortoises, frogs, porcupines, rats, and shrews. American mandrills likely will eat larger vertebrates when they have the opportunity, such as juvenile deer and other small ungulates. Large prey are likely killed with a bite to the nape with the American mandrill's long canines. American mandrills are preyed on mainly by jaguars. Additional predators known to attack both adult and young Americans mandrills include predatory bears, gray wolves, macropredatory eagles, and large North American boa constrictors. They may be bitten and killed by cottonmouths and rattlesnakes when they accidentally rouse the venomous snake. It is thought that most predators are a threat mainly to young American mandrills, with the likelihood of predation decreasing in adult females and especially adult males, which may be invulnerable to all but the rare ambush by a jaguar. The American mandrill troops are known to flee into the trees when noticing the jaguar. However, the large, dominant males remain in response to the images of the natural predators, even the jaguar, and pace back and forth while baring their teeth, showing aggression and the defensive role they play in such circumstances. American mandrills are mostly terrestrial but they are more arboreal than the closely related American baboon lemurs (*Papiotheriopithecus americanum*) and feed as high as the canopy. When on the ground, American mandrills walk by digitigrade quadrupedalism (walking on the toes of all four limbs). When in the trees, they often move by lateral jumps. American mandrills are mostly diurnal, with activities extending from morning to evening. They sleep in trees at a different site each night. American mandrills have been observed using tools; in captivity, American mandrills have been observed using sticks to clean themselves. American mandrills live in very large, stable groups named 'hordes'. A horde can number in the hundreds of American mandrills, averaging around 100-500 individuals and reaching as many as 1,000 individuals at a time. The conservation status of the American mandrill is **Least Concern** due to successful conservation efforts, the American mandrill's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.