25 Yr Impact For The Disney Conservation Fund

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks

Today is a huge milestone for the Disney Conservation Fund as it celebrates 25 years of making an impact! As we celebrate Earth Day and this Disney Conservation Fund milestone, check out the details below from DisneyParksBlog:

As Dr. Mark Penning recently wrote, during these unprecedented times, we can look to nature to bring us hope and inspiration. This Earth Day, the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) marks a milestone — 25 years of recognizing and supporting conservationists and communities that embody that hope and inspiration.

Check out this inspiring anniversary message from one such conservationist, world-renowned primatologist, Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & U.N. Messenger of Peace.  You can learn more about Dr. Goodall’s inspiring story with a new documentary called JANE GOODALL: THE HOPE, premiered on April 22, on Nat Geo, Nat Geo WILD, and streaming beginning Earth Day on Disney+ and Hulu.

Thanks to generous donations from people around the world, the support of our employees and cast members, and funding from The Walt Disney Company, the DCF has directed $100 million to protect the magic of nature since 1995. We have supported 600 respected nonprofit organizations –and counting – that are working with communities to save wildlife, inspire action and protect the planet. Grants directed to these organizations have helped protect more than 315 million acres of habitat and 1,000 species globally from lions and leopards, to butterflies and bees. 

These achievements are made possible by strong collaborations and dedicated people, who continue to inspire us and provide hope for our planet. We’re grateful to the members of the Disney Conservation Team Wildlife staff, who lead best-in-class scientific programs to conserve wildlife in Disney’s backyard and beyond, connect people to build a network for nature, and care for the planet through everyday actions. We’re also grateful to the hundreds of Disney employees and cast members who review funding proposals, raise and monitor funds, share stories that inspire people to make a difference, and expertly care for animals and our planet each day.

You can read more about Disney Conservation projects in our new FREE digital book: “The Disney Conservation Fund: Carrying Forward a Conservation Legacy”. Inside you will find some incredible stories highlighting organizations like the International Crane Foundation and its partners in East Asia, who have increased habitat protection for critically endangered Siberian cranes by 19,000 square miles. Or Associação Mico-Leão Dourado, Save the Golden Lion Tamarin, and Proyecto Tití, who have collectively planted more than 900,000 trees to create forest habitat for tiny golden lion and cotton-top tamarin monkeys in Brazil and Colombia, while benefitting more than 165 families through forest-friendly income-generating programs. 

In honor of Earth Month, we are also offering a Disney Conservation Fund 25th anniversary-themed wallpaper, featuring some of the most beloved Disney animal characters. You can download the desktop version the wallpaper below, or find the mobile version exclusively on Instagram, shared by @DisneyConservation.

We invite you to learn more about the amazing work some of our Disney Conservation Fund grantees and 180 Disney Conservation Heroes are doing. Their devotion to furthering conservation in their communities and making the world a better place is truly admirable and inspires us every day.

For more stories and updates from Disney’s Animal Kingdom, follow Dr. Mark @DrMarkAtDisney on Instagram. You can also learn more about your favorite animals through Disney Magic Moments and NatGeo@Home.

Thank you for your continued commitment to do what you can do to save resources, recycle and support nature organizations with time or donations. There is no better way to help us honor the 25th anniversary of the Disney Conservation Fund!

Keep up with the work we’re doing all year round by following Disney Conservation on social media. We can’t wait to see what we accomplish together in the next 25 years!

Meet Asha, The Newest Disney Zebra Foal

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom

Ready for some cuteness?! You may have heard about a Hartmann’s mountain zebra foal, Asha, born earlier this month at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Well, Asha has now made her grand entrance onto the Kilimanjaro Safaris savanna with her mother, Heidi. Check out the sweet video, photos and details below from DisneyParksBlog:

I’m also excited to share she entered the savanna with a gorgeous name, Asha. Asha’s name means “hope” in Sanskrit, and “life” in Swahili, and it was chosen by Walt Disney World Cast Members, who had a chance to vote on potential names.

While we normally reserve the naming of a new baby for the Cast Members on our animal care team, we decided to ask all Walt Disney World Cast Members to help us choose this little one’s name as a special opportunity for all our Cast to be part of a beautiful moment in this challenging time in the world.

It’s always a joy to see a baby animal go on the savanna for the first time.

Zoological Manager Meaghan McCarthy was on hand for the special moment and says Asha excitedly ventured onto the savanna along with her mom, Heidi. The foal was eager to stretch her long legs, run and play along with other members of the Hartmann’s herd.

Meaghan tells me this little foal is inquisitive and brave. Asha encountered a lot of firsts and lots of learning on her first venture out. She confidently stood beside her mom, Heidi, while meeting a member of her zebra herd, saw just how tall a giraffe stands, heard the call of a hyena, and got a taste of grass. Asha boldly ventured away from mom to explore, but quickly responded when Heidi came to collect her.

Hartmann’s mountain zebras are found in sub-Saharan Africa and are a vulnerable species due to habitat loss and hunting. To learn more about zebras and other species we are working to protect, visit DisneyAnimals.com and follow me and my amazing team on Instagram: @DrMarkAtDisney.

Disney’s Animal Care Earns AZA Accreditation

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks

Way to go Disney’s Animal Care Team! This group of dedicated Cast Members once again recently earned their Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Accreditation for Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Check out the details below as shared by Dr. Penning on DisneyParksBlog:

As I shared recently, even though Walt Disney World Resort is temporarily closed, Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment Cast Members are continuing to provide the best care for our animals. Our team includes experts in animal care, nutrition, veterinary care, conservation, science, and education programs – and all have a special bond to the work they do.

The team develops new forms of enrichment for our lions based on food textures and scents, trains animals to participate in their own medical care, feeds fresh lettuce to hippos and places browse (leafy branches) up high for giraffes. Those are just some of the ways the animal care team goes above and beyond to establish strong relationships with the animals and help maintain their health and well-being. 

These efforts have not gone unnoticed. Because of this team’s dedication and hard work, Disney is a recognized leader in animal care and conservation. Most recently, that recognition included Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge once again earning accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).  

AZA accreditation is the gold standard in animal care, and I’m incredibly proud of the entire Animals, Science and Environment Team for earning this stellar accomplishment. 

Our team is also passionate about conservation. In partnership with the Disney Conservation Fund, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, we’re working to help save wildlife, inspire action and protect the planet. Those efforts support nonprofit organizations and the health of hundreds of species, like the Grauer’s gorilla.

I’m so grateful for our ASE team, and I look forward to sharing more stories about the #DisneyMagicofNature.

Joe Rohde Continues His Tour of Animal Kingdom – Part 4

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks

Imagineer Joe Rohde has been taking Disney fans on an online digial tour of Disney’s Animal Kingdom through his Instagram, providing deep backstory on its ethos and culture. He’s discussed the Tree of Life and Africa, and today we follow him through Asia as he discusses the beautiful Anandapur and Maharajah Jungle Trek!

Joe begins by discussing what region Animal Kingdom’s Asia represents…

“At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Asia really means South Asia and Southeast Asia, where you find Tigers….We have styled the entire thing as The Kingdom of Anandapur. It’s something like India something like Nepal and something like parts of Indonesia.

As with Africa, we want everyone to have a sense of going on an adventure, so even if you were from India, you walk around here going “I haven’t been to this part of the country”… A purist could criticize this as being kind of expropriation and amalgamation, but we try to be careful and we really do want to transcend any particular country and stick with the idea of animals and the people they live with.

Joe continues in another post…

“It’s important to remember that all of these lands are fictional. And because they are fictional, they have been edited and focused in an artificial way….

Our Asia is focused on the harmony and disharmony of use of space. Habitat competition vs accommodation. The tigers live in an abandoned hunting lodge. The white water raft trip goes through an illegally logged Forest. The train in Expedition Everest cuts through a forbidden part of the mountains. The Gibbons and Siamangs live right in the middle of town amidst ruins under restoration. This is a bit of design hyperbole, but it’s meant to indicate this idea of humans and animals living cheek by jowl in the same spaces.”

Ever take a picture next to that ruined shrine with the big paws? Joe fills us in on its history...

“This was inspired by multiple sources. One was Sigiriya in SriLanka where there is a truly huge set of claws left over from a giant lion. One is Mahabalipuram in India where there are colossal stone animals. The other is at Angkor Wat, colossal human sculptures in ruins with roots overgrown.

Ours is a tiger. So it could have been an old Hindu shrine of Dawon the tiger-lion who is variously ridden by Durga, Kali or Parvati. Or a Buddhist shrine to Padmasambhava who also rides a tiger. But it’s in ruins so we cannot tell.”

Moving one, Joe gives us a little insight into the queue for Kali River Rapids…

“In the queue for the Kali River Rapids attraction are murals on the ceiling depicting traditional Buddhist parables in which animals act out moral precepts. These are called the Jataka Tales. The ceiling of this building, indeed the entire building is loosely based on a building on the island of Bali called the Kerta Gosa. It too has a lavish painted ceiling with a very similar carved ornament at the very peak.

All the murals that you see in the building are original. They were painted by an old Balinese master painter. When we started the work, I brought him a full set of western watercolor brushes as a gift. He chose to paint all those murals with his traditional tools…Split pieces of bamboo which he cut with a knife and smashed to create a brush.”

Let’s head into the Maharajah Jungle Trek with Joe to look at, not only the animals, but the artistry…

“There are three distinct mural sequences in the Maharajah Jungle Trek. There are the tiger murals, which if you look closely reveal antique scenes of tiger hunts, making it clear that there used to be way more tigers. By the way, some of these shots are from inside the tiger area…when the tigers were not there. The second group in this sequence are the carved stone murals (real stone carved in Bali) representing a little moral tale in which man comes into the forest, cuts down the forest, and disaster follows. In the final frame the animals and the man have reconciled and nature begins to bloom again. The last set of murals are meant to depict the four great kings of Anandapur.”

Before we leave, we must check out the Tigers!

“When we opened, we had Bengal tigers who had grown up together. I believe they were all sisters….. The Tigers you see today are Sumatran Tigers, which are an important Conservation challenge. For those who are concerned about where animals like these come from…Rest assured they are not captured in the wild. Ironically, there are almost none left in the wild. At any legitimate accredited Zoological facility, ours included, those animals are part of international networks committed to maintaining healthy and genetically Viable populations.

When we started conceptual work on Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 1990 estimates are there were as many as 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today there are maybe 3500….Thanks to global effort’s some tiger numbers are stabilizing. That doesn’t mean much unless we do a lot more to protect jungle habitat with enough animals in it for Tigers to eat.”

Join is soon in Part 4 as Joe take us all to the thrill of Asia – Expedition Everest!

Tour Through Animal Kingdom With Joe Rohde – Part 2

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks

Joe Rohde, Imagineer and creative force behind Animal Kingdom, has been taking Disney fans on a digital tour through some of his favorite areas of the park. Today, we showcase his thoughts on the African portion of the park including Harambe village, the Kilimanjaro Safaris, and the Gorilla Falls Nature Trail. Be sure to check out his Instagram for the full posts.

Joe starts us off with a little history on Harambe.

“None of our lands are supposed to be geopolitically real like say, Kenya. Harambe looks a lot like Lamu in Kenya, but not in a replicative way, and there are substantial stylistic departures. It’s more like a smash-up of Lamu-Kenya and Arusha-Tanzania. Both are a kind of mercantile border town, as is Harambe. The word Harambe means “let’s work together or pull together.” Implicitly on behalf of wildlife.

What can we read in this environment? Clearly multiple levels of history and conquest, as with Lamu. There’s a Portuguese fort, some remnants of Omani reign, a British Colonial era, and Independence in 1961. Must be a valuable place. The building are old and weathered, but not intended to look neglected, and there’s lots of evidence of reutilization and upcycling…from economic stress? So people are striving here. I mean, the municipal logo is a Maasai shield and an industrial gear with the word ”enterprise.”

In such a palpably commercial place, where people are clearly striving to get ahead, what is the value of elephants vs elephant ivory and rhinos vs rhino horn? This is what wildlife conservation is – a value equation. And the value at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is The intrinsic value of Nature as supreme and untradeable. However subtle and nuanced, that is conflict, which drives narrative.”

Now let’s take off on a safari!

“The animals that you see on Safari represent the savanna ecosystem, but it would be extraordinary to see them all in one place or in one day. I’ve spent entire days on safari and seen almost nothing. And while there are many famous animals, there are also some rare animals that you might never see if you went on safari in Africa. Eland for example, are very shy and will not let you get within 1000 feet.”

Joe continues in another post…

[The safari} exists within a network of managed habitats stretching all around the world, which relate to each other in order to preserve the genetic pool of these animals, and in some cases, as we have done with White Rhinos, to re-introduce them to the wild.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom could not exist without the Disney Conservation Fund and it’s work out in the real world….I would never discourage someone from taking a real Safari trip to Africa. But I can assure you that the Safari that you might take here has certain advantages, and is not merely a show, it is a working environment engaged with the conservation of wild creatures.”

Now that we’re off our safari trek, let’s go with Joe over to Gorilla Falls!

“Gorilla Falls Nature Trail is a pedestrian experience into the jungles adjacent to our wildlife reserve….It features a family of lowland gorillas, which are sexy and impressive, yes, but I don’t know how often you’re ever going to get a chance to see an African Weaverbird make a nest, or ever see a naked mole rat, or a jacana. Because there is no ride system, people often undervalue these experiences.

But, at a place like Disney’s Animal Kingdom, where the best rewards come from slowing down and observing closely, the nature walks are some of the highest value for the investment that you can get. Data from zoos suggest that people spend an average of 30 seconds looking at an animal exhibit. That’s really not enough time. If you wait for mother nature, she will put on a show. But you have to wait.”

Again, make sure to check out Joe’s Instagram for his own pictures and full stories.