- Denver Zoo mandrill troop - first baby in more than two decades

Three days before Mother’s Day, the Denver Zoo welcomed a baby mandrill into its primate troop — the first such birth since the zoo’s “mandrill baby boom” in 2003.

Kesi was born May 10 and made her public debut Friday, according to a Denver Zoo news release. Kesi is her parent’s first baby and an important addition to a species that is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Mandrills are a primate native to the rainforests in central West Africa. They have bright blue and red faces and can store almost an entire stomach’s worth of food in their cheek pouches. The species is the largest of all monkeys. The most well-known mandrill is the character Rafiki in “The Lion King.”

Two decades ago, the Denver Zoo experienced a “mandrill baby boom,” according to the zoo. Then, the zoo’s primates stopped procreating. Kesi’s mother, Kumani, arrived at the zoo last year as part of a plan by U.S. zoos to help threatened species survive. Kumani became pregnant at the end of 2018. READ MORE