Mandrill Snout
The blues and reds spanning the mandrill’s face are colors usually reserved for birds, reptiles, and insects. The mandrill’s snout, most vivid on males, is used for expressing dominance and attracting mates. The colors here don’t come from pigments, as mammals’ only natural pigments are melanins, which produce yellow-reds to dark browns. Researchers have suggested the coloration may be due to the way proteins in the monkey’s face reflect light, a phenomenon known as structural color.
