Life span: Up to and exceeding 45 years.
Total population: 200,000
Location: Equatorial Africa
Gestation: 174 days
Height: 50-60cm
Weight: 1-17kg

There are as few as 3,000 drills remaining in the wild today. This is because their habitat is being destroyed by logging, agriculture and human development, and because they are heavily hunted for bushmeat. Drills move around in large familie groups led by one dominant male. In groups with two or more adult males the subordinate status of the males is revealed by slimmer proportions and duller colouring. They spend most of their day on the ground searching for food. They can climb trees very well and sleep in the lower branches of them at night. Overall, their behaviour makes them easy to hunt. When threatened they will flee to the lower branches of trees and, if a hunter can surround them with dogs, it is easy to shoot several drills in one encounter.
Male drills are much larger than females and have very bright pink or violet
"bottoms". This may be because other drills can see these colours easily in
the poorly lit environment in which they live. The drill should not be confused with the mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) which is also found in Cameroon, but only in the south. The mandrill is distinguished by having orange hair under the chin (which is white in drills) and by having pronounced ridges on its cheeks that
are bright blue in an adult male, who also has a bright red nose.
Drills communicate with several sounds to keep contact within the group. A
"crow call" can carry over long distances and an "alarm call" warns of
danger. Grunts, barks, cries, facial expressions and body language are all
used as means of communication. When showing aggressiveness, they "bob"
their heads up and down and shake trees or branches very violently. They
show their teeth and turn their head sideways, like a smile or a grin, when
they are calm and social. A male drill will yawn to display his large canine
teeth as a sign of his strength.