The San Diego Zoo's first mandrills, Peter and Suzy, arrived in 1923. Although they never reproduced, Peter lived to a ripe old age of 27 or 28 (we did not have his birth year). More mandrills arrived in 1938, and soon our mandrill breeding program was begun, with 34 mandrills born at the Zoo and Safari Park over the years.
Today, the Zoo is home to four mandrills living along the Monkey Trail in Lost Forest. The small horde is led by alpha male Jasper and includes adult females Tami and Kesi and younger male JJ. They share an exhibit with Schmidt’s spot-nosed monkeys and Wolf’s monkeys.
Mandrills are listed as a vulnerable species. Conservation organizations are working to protect mandrill habitat from illegal logging and the bushmeat trade. (Bushmeat is the hunting of wildlife species for food and trade). This trade has become lucrative, and, as human populations increase, it is a greater threat today than ever before. And, as human settlements expand, mandrills are losing their habitat to logging and clearing of forests for agricultural use.