Tree of Life

The canopy of the Tree of Life at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom rises 145 feet in the air and spreads 160 feet across. This natural-looking Park wienie is one of the World’s most exquisite architectural and artistic features. The story it tells expresses the mythologies of many cultures, where the tree is both “a source of life and an emblem of symbiosis.” The animals, metaphorically, were not etched into its surface but grew out from it. The Tree and its residents abide in mutual commensalism. According to Walt Disney Imagineering mythology, the Tree was the first thing on Discovery Island. The village came to the Tree whose water supports life for the Islanders and all of Animal Kingdom.

Design of the Tree of Life, based on a particular bonsai seen at Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival, developed in many phases. Early stages involved artistic renderings, then scale model foam sculpting, and finally experiments with paint and foliage treatments. Converting the concept to full production required intense innovation, muscle, and perseverance. Over two years’ time, the Tree took root from an offshore drilling platform-type base and grew jointed steel pipe branches. Its foam, concrete, and plaster bark is mottled with 325 extinct, contemporary, and imaginary creatures. More than 103,000 leaves sprouted by hand on the 8,000 branch tips as painters followed carvers down the Tree.

Tunnel under the Tree’s roots and you’ll virtually shrink to the size of an ant as you enter a 430-seat theater. The 3-D Audio-Animatronic show, It’s Tough to be a Bug, hosted by A Bug’s Life’s Flick and Hopper might startle toddlers but bigger kids get a kick out of the special effects. While Guests are bug-size, Hopper is larger than life. Standing eight feet tall, Hopper is one of the most complex Audio-Animatronics ever made.

Meander around the Tree and take advantage of the several viewing areas to observe animals like flamingoes, lemurs, and red kangaroo in their natural habitat. While admiring the animals (real and sculpted), look closely at the front of the Tree. See if you can spot the Hidden Mickey! Hint: It's near the buffalo.

Today's Takeaway:
When the Tree of Life was being carved, Dr. Jane Goodall was invited for a viewing. She asked where the chimpanzee sculpture was, but one had not been included in the design. To honor her extraordinary work with the animals, they carved a chimp and named him David Greybeard after the first chimpanzee she observed making a tool in the wild. (Up until the time of her chimpanzee observation, anthropologists saw tool-making as a defining trait of mankind. The archaeologist and paleontologist she was assisting, Louis Leakey, replied of her discovery, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.”) The David Greybeard sculpture is the last animal you see before walking through the turnstiles to It's Tough to be a Bug. You can sit in his lap & be photographed with him.

The Jane Goodall Institute offers a four-unit high school study program called Lessons for Hope. inspired by her book, Reason for Hope. The activities help students recognize their dreams, explore their skills and interests, and implement real-world solutions to problems in their community, the environment, and the world. By completing the program, Dr. Goodall hopes students will understand "that even young people can – and must – make the world a better place for all living beings."

Research her biography here and complete the course by visiting this link.

SCHOOL SUBJECT: Science/Anthropology
SKILL LEVEL: High School