2-888-342 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mandrill Baboon in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's Park, 1850. 'This fine specimen...has lately been received from Mr. George Brand, her Majesty's Consul in the province of Angola...and has been disposed of by Mr. Edmund Gabriel, her Majesty's Arbitrator...This Mandrill is between three and four years old, and is a remarkably fine specimen...The Mandrill...although generally docile enough when young...acquires some ferocity as it grows old. The present specimen measures about five feet, when standing upright; and it is impossible to look at its figure without at once perceiving that it is endowed with great muscular power. It is, we believe, the only specimen of the Mandrill in England...Mandrills...frequently commit great ravages amongst the fruits and crops; sometimes even plundering the Negro villages, during the absence of the inhabitants'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.