A reality series about what goes into caring for the animals in Disney parks. It has great visuals to accompany interesting stories and a script that is clever and informative.
Review
- Genre: Documentary
- Rating: PG13
- Available on: Disney+
- Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys learning more about animal care at Disney’s various facilities.
In Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we follow Disney “cast members” (what Disney calls its employees) as they show what they do behind-the-scenes to care for the animals that live in their parks. By introducing these animals, the show aims to educate the public and advocate for the preservation of their wild populations. The ultimate end goal seems to be species and habitat conservation, since it is something that comes up a lot throughout the series.
The featured stories were all pretty interesting but this show is different from a typical nature documentary as it focuses more on the work that goes into the care for these animals. It doesn’t go into too much detail about each species, though fun facts about them are cleverly sprinkled into the narration by Josh Gad (aka Olaf) and dialogue with the various members of the animal care team.
I love the extra graphics that were created for the intro sequence and that are used to show the different locations in the episode. The graphics were a miniature version of Animal Kingdom and its surrounding parks. It was a cool and beautiful way to transition between sequences.
I would recommend this series to anyone who is interested in the work that goes into caring for wild animals in captivity. This may also interest anyone who likes Disney Parks and wants to get a behind-the-scenes look at park operations.
That was the end of the official review. In the next section, I have some extra thoughts I had about the show and conservation. In the last section, I provide summary information of each episode and my favourite moments. If you’d rather read something else at this point, I take no offence.
Thanks for reading! See you again soon~
💜 jy
Further Thoughts
After watching the series, I came away with a few questions that I figured some people might also have. I’ve put what I could find here for your information.
Why is wildlife conservation important?
(In my own words) I guess since humans decided that they wanted to proliferate so well, the least we can do is to eliminate the harm that we bring to our planet and its many other inhabitants. Instead of thinking that we are doing this for the animals, I think wildlife conservation is important because the changes that can result from not doing so, may be too much for our population to withstand. For the benefit of our future generations, we should work to leave the planet in a more stable state than when we arrived. For more professional reasons, you can read a blog post by the World Wildlife Fund here and find out more about their work in wildlife conservation here.
What are the benefits of captive breeding programs?
Some of the benefits cited include the ability to potentially reintroduce captive populations into the wild. I’m skeptical but there are also more immediate benefits such as reducing the incentive to capture wild animals for the sole purpose of putting in zoos (Source). Of course, captive breeding programs are not the panacea to extinction. Ideally, we should address the root causes of extinction which include habitat destruction and poaching.
How do zoos prevent inbreeding causing problems in future?
The Species Survival Plan (SSP) Program brings together participating zoos and facilities to maintain genetic diversity among captive populations. Read more about it here.
What are the endangered species categories?
These categories are part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of threatened species. The list has been used to inform and guide stakeholders when they are making decisions about biodiversity conservation and policy. Read more about it here.
The loose categories are as follows (Source):
- Not Evaluated
- Data Deficient
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable Species
- Endangered Species
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
How do we know what an ideal wild population size is?
Okay, I don’t have the answer to this question because the answers are hidden in scientific papers. If there are any conservation geeks out there willing to educate a lazy unscientific nerd, feel free to contact me. I’d love to find out the answer.
Episode Breakdown
In this section, you will find a list of all the animals mentioned in each episode, along with their names and a brief summary of the stories that were told about them. I also share my personal favourite moment of each episode just for fun.
Episode 1: Kenya, the Gutsy Giraffe 🐔🌴🦒🐘
Stories of this episode
- Masai Giraffe: Kenya, Maximus, Amira, Mara — Training Kenya to participate in hoof trims voluntarily
- African Elephant: Mac, Jabali, Tsavo, Kianga — Mac’s routine check-up reveals a potential problem
- Frizzle Chicken: Popcorn — Popcorn undergoes surgery
- Extra Story: Installation of a lamp that looks like a palm tree
My favourite moment
I think this episode wasn’t my favourite, and it’s a pity because it’s the first episode. I think this is an introductory episode because of how recognisable the animals are. Weirdly, I think the most memorable moment was when they said that the fake tree took them more than a year of work. Of course, they were probably juggling several projects in that same time but it just seemed funny to think that there was a team who spent one year, thinking about a lamp post dressed up as a palm tree. 😂 To give them credit, I love how the end result mimicked sunset conditions so that it wasn’t too unnatural for the animals.
Episode 2: Happy Birthday, Gino! 🦁🦜🦍
Stories of this episode
- Western Lowland Gorilla: Gino, Cory, Lilly, Kashata, Grace, Flint — Gino celebrates his birthday and fights off a “flu”
- Spotted Eagle Ray: Darby — Darby gives birth to a baby ray who gets off to a rough start
- African Lion: Dakari, Kamari, Kinsey — A small lump on Kinsey’s elbow has her keepers worried
- Great Green Macaw: Santiago — Santiago and Emmett train to join the Winged Encounters show
- Blue-Throated Macaw: Emmett
My favourite moment
This episode changed my mind about the show. I like birds so it was fun to see them training for a show. However, my favourite moment from the episode was when they gave the teenage Gorilla boys blankets to keep them occupied. 👻
Episode 3: Betty and the Beast 🐗🦓
Stories of this episode
- Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra: Domino, Prima, Heidi, Clementine — The zebras move to their new home and welcome a new member
- Babirusa: Betty, Mentari — Betty and Mentari go on a blind date
- West Indian Manatee: Lou — Lou gets checked out for a possible infection in his tail
- Extra Story: We follow an attraction host on the daily test truck ride before guests arrive
My favourite moment
The zebra foal is so cute! I also love how the zebras have such a nonchalant attitude when they go to their new home.
Episode 4: Meet the Mandrills 🥩🐅
Stories of this episode
- Mandrill: Hazel, Scarlett, Snow, Linus — A new male member joins an all-girl Mandrill group
- Sumatran Tiger: Sohni — Sohni gets some enrichment and trains to voluntarily participate in routine blood draws
- Spotted Hyena: Scooter, Zawadi — Caring for spotted hyena and their odd preferences
- Abyssinian Ground Hornbill: Cassanova — A change in Cassanova’s feathers and skin leaves his keepers concerned
- Extra Story: Engineers work on a submerged fence in one of the hidden moats on the safari
My favourite moment
I enjoyed learning a bit more about how the safari was designed so that the animals could coexist in their different habitats. These elements are also designed to go unnoticed by guests on the safari.
Episode 5: Aardvark Love! 🐊🦏
Stories of this episode
- Aardvark: Willie, Peanut — Willie the Aardvark ambassador goes on a date with the park’s first female aardvark, Peanut
- Black Rhino: Badru — Badru trains to voluntarily participate in routine blood draws
- West Indian Manatee: Lil Joe — Lil Joe gets checked out for a lump near his tail
- Nile Crocodile: Jabba, Mr Campbell — Jabba does some target training and Mr Campbell gets his tail checked
My favourite moment
This episode revealed that the keepers and vets wear helmets when inspecting manatees just in case the massive animals decide to flick their tails suddenly. I also found it interesting to see how they inspected the nile crocodiles. One fun fact I learned is that “10-4” means “message received”.
Episode 6: Peri’s Prickly Pregnancy 🦏🐾🦔🐅
Stories of this episode
- Prehensile-tailed Porcupine: Peri — Peri is pregnant
- Sumatran tiger: Nala — Nala faces a series of challenges to test her senses and display her natural behaviours
- Steenbok: Stark — Stark the newborn deals with some growing pains
- Southern White Rhino: Dugan, Helen — Dugan celebrates his 24th birthday with a new toy
- Painted Dog: Luke, Oswald — We see the pack display some of their natural behaviours
My favourite moment
It was so cool to see the baby porcupine pop out on a night-vision camera!
Episode 7: The Big Egg Switcheroo 🌊🐢🐒🐘
Stories of this episode
- Black-and-White Colobus: Alika, Zahra, Douglas — Keepers wait expectantly for the arrival of Zahra’s second baby
- African Elephant: Nadira, Stella — Nadira works on crossing a bridge
- Lappet-Faced Vulture: Carri, Bones — Keepers try to give Carri and Bones’s egg the best chance at hatching
- Green Turtle: Harry — Harry trains for mealtimes before being allowed into the main aquarium
- Extra Story: See how the saltwater tank at The Seas is maintained
My favourite moment
Nadira is very cute. It was awesome to see the effort that the team puts into encouraging her into forming new habits or trying new things that might be uncomfortable for her.
Episode 8: Baby Gorilla Grace 🦍🦏🦛🦈
Stories of this episode
- Nile Hippopotamus: Augustus (Gus), Biko — Gus interacts with another hippo for the first time
- Whitespotted Bamboo Shark: Flash — Flash needs some help after eating something she wasn’t supposed to
- Western Lowland Gorilla: Grace, Kashata, Gino — Keepers try to help baby Grace reach her developmental milestones
- Southern White Rhino: Dugan, Helen, Jao, Kiami, Kendi, Lola — Bashful Dugan tries to get closer with some of his female friends
My favourite moment
While both the hippos and rhinos were really cute, I think the interesting thing was seeing how they anaesthetised Flash using an aquatic anaesthetic to remove the foreign object she’d swallowed.
Wow I can’t believe you actually read the whole thing. Either that or you scrolled to the bottom to find out how long this section really way. 😉 Whatever the case, thanks for reading!
💜 jy