Who would win a fight between these two monkeys?
We are aware that there are various species of baboons so for this battle, we will pick a monkey species with a similar size to those of the mandrills, and we think the greatest one is the chacma baboon. The chacma aka Cape baboon is similar to all other baboon monkey species belonging to the Old World monkey family.
It’s one of the biggest of all monkeys.
The chacma baboon has a face that looks like a dog with distinctive canine teeth.
These animals also have a large head and an oblong face shape.
Their tail is served, and their top face is shaped downwards.
The canine teeth of the males are larger in size than those of females. Their face also has a purplish-black hue.
Mandrills are the biggest and most vibrant of the Old World monkey family.
They are genetically linked to baboons and even more to drills.
Their hairy head, mane, and beard are quite distinct.
But what draws attention to their appearance is their bright colors.
They have bulky ridges around their nose that are blue and purple, reddish lips and nose, and a golden yellow beard. They nearly look unreal!
Characteristics
Chacma baboons are one of the biggest baboon species.
They are considered sexually dimorphic which means they have distinct differences in appearance and size between the two genders.
Male capes weight between 57 and 68 lbs or 26-31 Kilograms, while the females weigh around 31 lbs or 15 kilograms. Males measure 4.9 feet or 1.5 m long from head to tail.
Females, on the contrary, have a slimmer and smaller figure, measuring 3.6 feet or 1.1 meters long from skull to tail.
Males have bigger canine teeth, whereas in females, the teeth are much smaller.
Their skull is pretty big for their size, and their face has a distinct downward orientation.
Their top face is oblong and deeply set.
The coloring of an average chacma baboon is dark brownish or black, with the undersides of their muzzle being paler.
The hair on their hands and feet is black. They also have a lifespan of 30 years in their natural habitats.
Similar to other bigger primates, males are bigger than females and typically weigh 2 times as much as females do.
Males have an average length of 3.5 feet or 1 meter and weigh around 88 lbs. on average, or 40 kilograms.
Females measure around 2 feet or 0.6 meters long and weigh around 33 pounds on average, or 15 kilograms.
At first sight, people assume that the Mandrill is a type of baboon.
Similar to baboons, they have wide chests and lengthy muzzles with distinct canine teeth.
Males also bear colorful skin spots on their muzzles.
Natural Habitat
Chacma baboons are mainly scattered throughout S. Africa.
You can spot them in S. Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, and Botswana.
These baboons inhabit sub deserts, savannas, woodlands, and mountainous regions.
In the Western Cape area of S. Africa, chacmas are often called “cape” or “savanna baboons”.
The scarcity of water restricts their general scope since they rely highly on water bodies.
The presence of predators nearby has an impact on their habitat range.
Chacma baboons will frequently rest in hills, large trees, and cliffs at nighttime.
On the other hand, Mandrills inhabit a smaller area of W. Africa.
Their habitat range expands from Guinea to Cameroon and also Gabon and random areas of the Congo republic.
Despite being scarce in their natural scope, these monkeys are fairly common in zoos and national parks.
These primate creatures choose to live in tropical rain forests, even though you can also find them in mountain forests and other woodland areas.
Despite the above, you will typically spot them looking for food on the ground. They may use the ground while searching, but they will often stay at treetops for safety reasons, sometimes overnight.
Nutrition
Chacma baboons are omnivores, which means their diet consists of both plants and flesh.
Cape baboons are regularly considered to be pests in the Cape area.
In most cases, they will run away when humans get closer; however, if there is a decent amount of food nearby, they won’t really care.
Baboons that reside near human buildings will often steal food from houses, picnic spots, parks, or lodges.
In some cases, humans support their annoying behavior by feeding them directly–something that makes human-inhabited areas more appealing to these cheeky monkeys.
Similar to baboons, the Mandrills have a very large appetite, and they will feed on anything that’s insight.
They like to eat fruits, insects, bugs, and tree bark when they have to. They can also eat eggs and even eat the babies of other monkey species.
Some male monkeys have been spotted to prey on small antelopes when they have no other food choices available.
Behavior
Baboons have a strict structure, which suggests a high IQ.
The females are born into their hierarchy and will stick with their inherited group for a lifetime.
Males will compete for group dominance, and if they are not granted the right to mate, they will simply search for another pack for more mating chances, thus boosting genetic variance.
Baboons have a bad rep for being fierce and aggressive.
While power and dominance shown amongst male baboons are not rare, these are hardly ever dangerous.
There is no evidence of wild Chacma baboons causing human deaths.
Their bad rep stems from the fact that they have sharp canines, and that they sometimes steal food from humans.
Baboons have the biggest canine-to-body size analogy of all animal species.
While these canine teeth can be fatal, they are seldom used in this way–they mainly use them for dominance shows and sexual mate selection.
In general, baboons are highly flexible, smart, and opportunistic.
Mandrill groups are typically small, but they sometimes reach up to 50 monkeys.
Even though the dominant male often roams away from the group, he will go back immediately when he faces a threat.
Mandrills prefer to live on the ground during the daytime and sleepover trees during night hours.
Their luminous coloring is a key characteristic associated with their social habits.
When they are active and excited, the bluish shade of the pad on their butts will become more vivid, their chest will turn blue, and red spots may pop up on their ankles and wrists.
When they show playfulness, a male mandrill stirs their head and shoulders as an invitation of grooming.
When they show off their teeth and their lips are slightly upturned, it means that they have a friendly demeanor and feel great.
When provoked, though, they will hit the ground aggressively.
They may also stare intensely at their watcher while scratching their thigh or forearms.
When mandrills fail to do a particular task, such as mating or fighting, they may sometimes yawn.
This yawning gesture also emerges as a sign of threat where the mandrill stretches its forearms, showcases its fallen head, and exposes its sharp teeth.
If there was a head-to-head battle between these two cheeky monkies, who would finally win?
Their typical sizes are not very different. The chacma baboon is a tad taller and longer, but the mandrill is the largest monkey as a whole.
We assume that the biggest mandrills outweigh any baboon species.
Unlike the biggest baboons, the mandrill has a more ape-like figure, with a bulky and flat build, thicker limbs that are longer on the front side and nearly no tail.
Chacma baboons are impressively large, and we’ve seen clips of them chasing off leopards without backing down.
In a relevant study where a mandrill group was exposed to predator triggers, only the leopard made the biggest part of the group climb over trees to escape.
However, the big dominant males were seen to remain in reaction to the sight of predators, even the leopard, and move back and forth while exposing their teeth to show defensiveness and aggression.
So if we put one large male baboon and one large male mandrill together, we believe that the mandrill has an edge.
They are bigger, have larger canines, and they have a more aggressive behavior.