Today the new ‘live’ version of the Disney classic ‘The Lion King’ will be released. And although it is a close copy of the 1994 animated movie, apparently there are a few updates and improvements which are truer to real life.
Disney did a pretty good job of representing nature accurately in the animated version. Lion prides are dominated by the strongest male with the lionesses doing the hunting, hyena clans are led by females, warthogs and meerkats will be found co existing in the same areas and the lion courtship rituals are pretty accurately depicted in the musical number of Nala and Simba’s jungle reunion.
There are however, a few inaccuracies. The most obvious are of course that animals don’t speak (or sing and dance) and they wouldn’t have such friendly inter-species relationships… but we will let that one slide as it is Disney after all 🙂
So, in celebration of the new release, here are a few of the more noteworthy differences between Disney’s animated ‘Lion King’ and real life…
Set in the Congo
The only place on the planet where you will find all the movie’s major characters real life counterparts, apart from Rafiki (the mandrill) is the Congo So whilst we don’t have the entire cast of the Lion King here at Nambiti Hills Private Game Experience, we do have lions, warthogs, wildebeest, rhino, elephant, giraffe, kudu and zebra, to name just a few!
Scar would be King
Interestingly, the colour of a lion’s mane directly correlates with his health, testosterone, and vigour. So basically, the darker the mane, the more powerful the lion. So, Scar’s colouring indicates that he would be a more natural king than Mufasa.
Natural enemies
Scar and the hyenas would not be allies. A more accurate representation of the hyena and lion relationship is when Mufasa chases the hyenas from the pride lands. This is because lions and hyenas often compete for food; hyenas being natural scavengers and letting the lions do the hard work! That’s not to say hyenas don’t hunt; it’s not unheard for example of for a pack to take down a lion.
Lions and ‘grubs’
When Simba meets up with Timon and Pumbaa, they introduce him to the ‘grub’ diet which he seemingly lives off until he’s fully grown. In nature, even IF a lion would try to eat insects, he would have to consume an enormous amount to be able to sustain himself! We can’t imagine the Nambiti lion prides would last long on this diet…!
Disney’s classic animated “Lion King’ remains to this day an entertaining and emotional story with great characters in a stunning setting. The ‘live’ version promises to be even more so….
Join us for a thrilling Game Drive at Nambiti Hills Private Game Experience soon!