The Lion King Essay
When is a movie not just a movie? When it has been painstakingly researched, as in the case of Disney’s The Lion King. It took Disney three years to make The Lion King, and a significant portion of that time was spent researching Africa and its ecology to make sure they portrayed everything correctly. The Lion King is an entertaining movie, but it also has ecological lessons for the discerning viewer. For instance, a large food chain, or multiple series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food, is shown in the Pridelands; the symbiotic relationships displayed in the movie have counterparts in real life; and abiotic and biotic external factors which influence organisms, populations and communities are present in the movie as well as real life.
In the movie, Mufasa says to his son, “… When we die, our bodies become the grass. And the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life.” This is only part of the aforementioned food web (also known as the Circle of Life) There are food webs everywhere, yet none is exactly alike. The food web specific to the Pridelands is unique, yet similar to savannas in real life. The lions are the top carnivore in the mentioned/implied food web. Lions in real life eat smaller mammals such as antelopes, zebras, hippos, and warthogs. Lions in the movie eat mice, antelopes, zebras, hornbills, hippos, and warthogs. Note: Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog introduce Simba, the cub of Mufasa, to “grubs” (various insects’ larvae), which is what their (Timon and Pumbaa’s) diet consists of. Simba has to get used to the grubs, therefore I am not using “the grubs” as part of a lion’s real-life diet. From the movie, one could assume that both warthogs and meerkats are insectivores, when in real life, warthogs are omnivores. The mandrill, Rafiki, is often found eating various fruits from his surroundings, such as the fruit from his baobab tree, which implies that he (Rafiki) is a herbivore, but mandrills are omnivores in real life. There are a couple of scavengers shown during the cartoon such as the unnamed birds that circle Simba when he appears to be dead in the drought-stricken lands. Hyenas are also scavengers, but in the movie, they have an urge to hunt animals, but not any species in particular.
“The tick birds are pecking on the elephants. I told the elephants to forget it, but they can't…” This line is spoken by the feisty red-billed hornbill Zazu as he gives his morning report to Mufasa. The line is a comedic reference to a symbiotic relationship. The way it is said shows a negative side for the elephants, or a parasitic relationship, because “pecking on” sounds close to “picking on” so the writers use that as a play on words. When in all actuality, it is beneficial on both sides of the interaction, or a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. Tick birds eat ticks off the elephants, which results in a tick-free elephant and breakfast for the tick birds. In another scene, more than eight birds are on the two tusks of one elephant as it travels, this is an example of a commensal symbiotic relationship. The birds get to rest their wings but still get to travel, even though the elephant doesn’t receive any benefit during the time shown on screen. During the song, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, when the shot cuts to the river where Nile Crocodiles open their mouths to sing along, vibrant blue birds are present in the crocs’ mouths. The birds are there because they eat whatever is stuck in the crocodiles’ teeth and in return, the crocodiles get clean teeth. This is yet another example of a mutualistic symbiotic relationship.
When Simba runs away after his father dies, he, a single lion cub, is faced with the challenge of finding food on his own in a strange surrounding or eat what is offered. He chooses to eat what was offered, and even though grubs were not his natural diet, his body eventually gets used to them. When Mufasa dies and Scar takes over Pride Rock, the community of lions and hyenas struggle because the hyenas use up all of the resources. The population of lions used their resources wisely, unlike the population of hyenas who aren’t used to the abundance, and use it unwisely. During the last battle scene of the movie, fire surrounds Pride Rock. This intensifies the battle between Simba and Scar. When Simba slips and is holding on to the edge of the rock, he is struggling to stay on the rock, to live. The slipperiness of the rock, and the fire beneath him add to the stress of his situation. In real life, animals have to adapt to changing environments, such as that caused by climate change.
During the captivating 89 minutes of the movie, The Lion King, it is easy to get pulled into the movie, forget one’s surroundings, and sing along at the top of one’s lungs. Analyzing the animation’s examples of ecology, such as correct symbiotic relationships, the fact of having scavengers in the film, the mention of how the nutrients of carcasses end up decomposed in the ground, along with many others, shows the apparent time and effort the animators spent to make this movie factual as well as entertaining. Between multiple examples of symbiotic relationships, a massive food chain, and many mentioned and implied abiotic and biotic external factors, The Lion King is an excellent example of a savanna biome and its ecology.

http://www.lionking.org/scripts/Script.html Reference of script