New Babirusa Piglet Born At Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom

Disney’s Animal Kingdom has shared some exciting news! Their first ever birth of a babirusa piglet has just happened… and it’s a girl! Welcome to the world sweet Kirana. Check out the details below as shared by Dr. Mark Penning, Vice President, Animals, Science and Environment, Disney Parks. Is it weird that we want one?! So cute!

We are squealing with delight! Disney’s Animal Kingdom is celebrating a first for the park: the birth of a babirusa piglet. And, it’s a girl! Our Disney animal care team has chosen to name her Kirana, which translates to “sunbeam” in Indonesian. 

Babirusas are part of the hog family, native to the swamps and rainforests of the Indonesian Islands. They’re known for their unique snouts and magnificent tusks that can grow up to almost 17 inches! Close relatives of the babirusa also live at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, such as the warthogs on Kilimanjaro Safaris and the KuneKune pigs at Affection Section. 

This birth is another success story for our dedicated team of Disney animal care experts, as parents Betty and Mentari were chosen to breed through the Species Survival Plan (SSP) overseen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The SSP assures responsible breeding for endangered species, such as the babirusa pigs and Asha, the Hartmann’s Mountain zebra foal recently born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  

Over the last 15 years, Disney animal care experts partnered with reproductive biologists and the SSP to “crack the code” on breeding a babirusa pair. The piglet is making an important contribution toward the worldwide conservation and understanding of the species, which will help ensure a future generation for these vulnerable animals. 

The Disney Conservation Fund has supported projects in Africa for more than 20 years to inspire grassroots conservation and improve livelihoods. These projects can help protect Africa’s amazing wildlife and benefit the hogs – such as babirusas – living in these habitats. 

The piglet is healthy and bonding with mom inside their den at the park. To learn more about hogs, visit DisneyAnimals.com.

Virtual “Ride & Learn” With Expedition Everest

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom

One of our very favorite attractions at Walt Disney World is Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain located in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This is one of those attractions we could ride again and again! The smooth coaster has a fantastic thrill level which features the Yeti which you’ll find is causing all sorts of trouble to the track in this Forbidden Mountain. DisneyParksBlog is sharing a virtual “ride and learn”. Hold on tight as we ride along and dream of the day we get to be on this one again!

Looming over Disney’s Animal Kingdom stands a massive, snow-capped mountain that beckons adventurers and thrill-seekers brave enough to attempt a journey to the “top of the world.” Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is an iconic attraction at Walt Disney World Resort, and today we’re inviting you to take a virtual ride on this fantastic and foreboding coaster in our newest “Ride & Learn” video.

ou’ll find Everest in the Asia section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. At the base of the mountain is the office for Himalayan Escapes, the travel company that brings curious tourists to the mountain’s peak aboard a special train. As you make your way toward the train, you see the results of past excursions and begin to understand what awaits you – most notably rumors of a ferocious beast lurking somewhere in the mountain …

It’s at this point we join our virtual ride, where you’ll learn more about Expedition Everest and how it was created. I love that this particular trip takes place at night – my preferred time of day to experience this amazing attraction. So gather your courage, hold on tight and conquer this mountain once and for all.

Grace From Disney’s Animal Kingdom Gorilla Family Celebrates 1st Birthday

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks

Check out this super cute birthday girl! Grace, a member of the Gorilla Family at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, is celebrating her 1st birthday! The team at Animal Kingdom is sharing the birthday celebrations with us! Check out this dose of sweetness from DisneyParksBlog as Grace’s birthday was celebrated.

It was just over a year ago now that Grace was born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. And while the park is temporarily closed, our team was able to throw her a special princess-themed birthday party!

The team created a cardboard princess carriage attached to plastic horses by paper chains for Grace and her family to play with. There was also a cardboard castle and colorful piñata. The materials we used in the decorations are enrichment items we give the gorillas as a special treat – perfect for a birthday surprise!

Grace’s birthday “cake” was made of three layers of ice treats – blocks of ice with berries and currants for the gorillas to pick out as the ice melts. We also froze pureed sweet potatoes and kiwis and cut them into shapes for another birthday surprise.

Grace was born May 1, 2019, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom to mother Kashata and father Gino, who were selected to breed as part of the Species Survival Plan overseen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The plan ensures responsible breeding of endangered species so they will have healthy, genetically diverse populations for years to come.

Grace is named after the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE), a gorilla sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is dedicated to helping gorillas orphaned by poaching. Our animal care experts at Disney’s Animal Kingdom have spent more than a decade helping the GRACE team and local community rehabilitate orphan gorillas and protect the species in the wild.

We’re thrilled to watch Grace every day as she matures and develops magnificent new skills. She likes walking upright and hanging upside down, for example. She’s also very energetic, inquisitive and social, and loves to play – especially with her three older siblings.

It was a wonderful time celebrating Grace’s big day, and we’re looking forward to the time you can come see her and her family again on the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail here at Disney’s Animal Kingdom! 

Imagineer Joe Rohde & Dinoland U.S.A – Part 5

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks

Imagineer Joe Rohde has been taking Disney fans on an online digital tour of Animal Kingdom through his Instagram, providing deep backstory on its ethos and culture. He’s discussed the Tree of Life, Africa, Asia, and Expedition Everest, but now we’re heading to the American southwest to Diggs County and DinoLand, U.S.A.!

Joe starts out be giving us some context for the accuracy of the dinos you see in the land…

“A lot of our Disney’s Animal Kingdom research took us to far away foreign countries… But it also took us to some of the great paleontological sites in North America. Paleontologists like Phil Currie and Bob Bakker were kind enough to instruct us.

We are very liberal about the dinosaurs that you encounter in this land, both in geography and chronology, though they are Cretaceous era creatures….if you see something that looks like a fossil of a Prehistoric creature, it is either a real fossil of a prehistoric creature or a replica of a real fossil. (The Carnotaurus in the queue line for the ride is a composite. The real Carnotaurus is smaller.) The interesting thing about dinosaurs is that they are created by our imagination as a result of research and speculation….Because of this, there is always debate about their true nature. That debate is embedded in the land in the context of many of the graphics.

Dinoland has a lot of humor and because of that I think we can relax some of the seriousness of some of the other themes and get away with some hijinx.”

Joe continues in another post about all the dinos you can find in the land…

“There is of course the Brachiosaurus at the Gateway. Triceratops in the queue. The famous and controversial Sue tyrannosaur fossil. A Parasaurolophus in the Boneyard. A Pteranodon, a Styracosaurus, another Tyrannosaur skull, an Allosaurus skull and a Hadrosaur skull and Phobosuchus skull in Restaurantosaurus. The Brachiosaurus is substantially modified… Other than that, these are the same casts you’re going to see in a museum.”

Now, let’s take a time-rover drive through the exciting attraction “Dinosaur!”

“Dinosaur” in Dinoland at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is one of our few IP-based attractions. At the time, the film had groundbreaking CGI effects. Originally there was a Styracosaurus out front for no better reason than it’s my favorite dinosaur…and the attraction was called Countdown to Extinction. We renamed it when the film came out, but the link to the film was already there. It may not be obvious, but such decisions have to be made years in advance. You don’t get a figure that looks like a character in a movie unless you start way before you open.

The Carnotaurus in the ride is substantially bigger and wider than a real Carnotaurus would be. This is because we had to fit a whole bunch of machinery inside of it. So we invented a new species, Carnotaurus robustus. A real Carnotaurus is a pretty weird looking animal to start with… With really really stubby short arms. Our Carnotaurus kind of reaches out towards you with his little hands… But I’m not sure a real one could even do that.

Many plastic toy Carnotauruses seem to be based on our interpretation which is odd because it’s so specifically distorted for our own attraction reasons. Many toy Carnos are red…why?!? That’s a weird color for a big predator. We chose it for narrative and scenic reasons. They are often thicker and toad-faced like ours. Their arms reach out. Go check. Just do image search on Carnotaurus toy. Then look up Carnotaurus sastrei, the scientific specimen. Sometimes a popular image just takes over. Shows you the power of art.”

Lastly, Joe discusses some real folk art that you can find only at Dinoland!

“When we were building Disney’s Animal Kingdom The House of Blues was being built at what was then an expansion of Downtown Disney. They had employed a prominent folk artist, Gregory Warmack, who went by Mr. Imagination. We enlisted him to create an actual work of American folk art in front of Chester and Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures. He came out to our site and created the concrete dinosaur in this photo.

His other work has been shown or exists today in places like the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the American Visionary Art Museum in Maryland, The Smithsonian, The Dallas Museum of Art. I believe that the work he created for us is not actually included in his curriculum vitae. It should be. So I hope some art historian is looking.

He has since passed away, but I think it’s kind of interesting that our tribute to the unsung folk arts of America includes an actual work of unsung Folk art.”

Make sure to check out Joe’s Instagram for his own pictures and many more adventurous stories.

Behind The Camera @ Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom

We are still in the midst of celebrating Earth Month! What better for Disney to continue the celebration than sharing another photo captured by a Disney Photographer. See the story behind this stunning photo from DisneyParksBlog here:

Earth Day is very important to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and our entire company, so I’m especially pleased today to share this photo of a blue-throated macaw I captured at the park several years ago. The presence of this critically endangered species at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is part of the conservation work happening at the park every day, which continues even during these unprecedented times. This is one of my all-time favorite photos I’ve taken as a Disney photographer, showcasing the #DisneyMagicofNature. 

Back in 2014, Disney’s Animal Kingdom was preparing to unveil “Animal Encounters: Winged Encounters – The Kingdom Takes Flight,” featuring free-flying macaws. The “pandemonium of parrots” is breathtaking to watch in the skies over Discovery Island, and required intensive preparation to bring it to reality. 

The team consisted of trainers and handlers with a deep love and understanding of birds, plenty of patience and positive reinforcement … and oodles of bird treats! They worked tirelessly with the macaws, teaching them to circle above the park during the show and then return to their trainers when the demonstration ended. 

Part of the training process involved stationing tall mechanical lifts around the park; attached to these lifts were baskets for trainers to stand in, with wooden perches affixed to the baskets where the birds could land. The trainers – plenty of treats in hand – climbed into the baskets and were raised above the treetops at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, using the treats as positive reinforcement to acclimate the birds to flying a circular route around the park. The macaws flew from lift to lift, alighting ever so briefly on the perches to collect a treat before zipping off to the next trainer. 

To help the park promote this amazing new offering, I was invited inside one of the lift baskets during a training session, hoping to snap a photo of a bird in flight with the iconic Tree of Life and majestic Expedition Everest as a backdrop. There was only one catch: As the birds flew up to the perch, I had to quickly duck down into the basket so I didn’t distract them. Now, I’m well over six feet tall, the basket is only about three feet wide and six feet long, and there’s another person in there with me. Not a whole lot of space to maneuver! But there I was, about seven stories above Disney’s Animal Kingdom, wearing a hard hat and full safety equipment while holding a camera and simultaneously hiding from and taking pictures of fast-moving macaws. From the ground I must have looked like a construction worker with a paralyzing fear of birds. 

After several unsuccessful attempts, I started to find a rhythm. As the birds flew toward the perch, I framed up a shot where I hoped the macaw might eventually be, then braced the camera against the rim of the basket, ducked down to hide from the bird and blindly clicked the shutter as it landed. It took a couple of mornings up in that basket to fine-tune the process and hope for just the right moment, but I eventually snagged the photo you see here of a beautiful blue-throated macaw flaring its wings as it prepared to land. All in a day’s work for a Disney photographer.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little piece of magic from my Disney career. Keep checking back for more!