Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife馃嚦馃嚞 Nigeria

Drills - one of the world's rarest monkeys

A clever forest monkey found only in a small part of West Africa

A male drill monkey standing on the forest floor

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Drills are large, ground-living monkeys that live only in three places in the world: a small part of southeastern Nigeria, southwestern Cameroon, and the island of Bioko. They are one of the rarest monkeys in Africa, and one of the most colourful. Adult males have a shiny black face and a famously colourful patch of skin to match.

Tell me more

Drills are sometimes confused with their close relatives, mandrills, which have bright blue and red faces. Drills have shiny black faces instead, with a bright red lower lip that looks a bit like they're smiling all the time. They live in groups of up to 100 monkeys, walking through the forest together looking for food.

They eat almost anything they can find on the forest floor: fruit, seeds, leaves, mushrooms, insects, and small animals. They are most active in the morning and evening, and rest during the hottest part of the day. At night, the whole group climbs up into the trees to sleep, safe from anything walking on the ground.

Drills talk to each other with all kinds of sounds: grunts, screams, and a 'crowing' call that sounds a bit like a rooster. The leader of the group is a big male, and he uses his face and voice to keep the family together as they walk through the thick forest where they cannot always see each other.

Because drills only live in such a small area, they are one of Africa's most endangered monkeys. Conservation groups in Nigeria run special projects in Cross River State, in the southeast of the country, where most wild drills live - protecting the forest so the drill families can keep finding food and a safe place to sleep.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01What does it mean for an animal to be 'endangered'? Why is it important to protect them?
  2. 02Drills live in big groups of up to 100. What might be good and hard about being part of such a big family?
  3. 03If you only lived in three small places in the whole world, what would you want people in other places to know about you?
Try this

Classroom activity

On a world map, find Nigeria and Cameroon. Shade in the small corner where drills live - the southeastern corner of Nigeria and a strip of Cameroon. Compare its size to the size of your country. How many of those drill regions would fit inside your country?

More about Nigeria

Other things that make Nigeria special

Want your class to meet Nigeria?

Pick Nigeriawhen you register and we鈥檒l show you the time-zone feasibility.

Register your classroom