You will believe a shark can roar: Zoological malpractice in Hollywood.

Someone started a bad movie thread awhile back and that inspired this post.

There seems to be consensus that the first "Jaws" is an all-time classic. The sequels, at least 3 and 4, seem to be truly horrible.

In "Jaws 4", the geniuses making the movie had the shark roaring like a lion. This seems to be one of the grossest acts of zoological malpractice ever on film.

What are some other acts of zoological malpractice that people have seen in the movies?

See and hear the shark roar here:

 

You will believe a shark can roar: Zoological malpractice in Hollywood

I remember seeing a film about animals escaping from a zoo or safari park, called something like the 'African Zoo'. It contained African animals, such as brown bears, llamas and kangaroos. As I pointed these out, I was told to leave by the other people in the TV room.

The live action version of 'The Jungle Book' combines brown bears, tigers, leopards and orang-utans. John Cleese walks through the forest and asks his students, "Which monkeys are these?" "Macaque monkeys". "Very good. And which monkeys are these?" "Langur monkeys." "Very good, yu've learned your lessons." "The fact that the 'langurs' were really ring-tailed lemurs in a sandy habitat was besides the point ... and John Cleese has a lemur named after him.

A TV version of 'Dracula' had Dracula flying through the window and transforming himself into a bat. A vampire bat? No, a fruit bat. Oh well, I suppose blood oranges had to come from somewhere. Watch out for the rabid mangos.

 

The classic one is always a very accurately rendered ancient Roman or Chinese palace rendered completely ludicrous because they always seem to have a pet squirrel monkey or Amazon parrot. Always find that off-putting (I think even the generally superb BBC/HBO Rome series was caught out by an Amazona).

 

Capuchin monkeys seem to represent primates from any continent in most movies. Hangover 2 (Thailand), Night At The Museum (Africa) and I'm pretty sure there's more that will come to me at some point...

 

I always thought Kung-fu Panda was really good for trying to get animals that at least came from the area even though they might not cross ranges but in Kung-fu Panda 2 they had gorillas. No one else in my family seemed to care but I was a little bit dissappointed.

 

Another couple examples of Hollywood fauna fraud come to mind.

The 1950 version of "King Solomon's Mines" with Debra Kerr was filmed on location in Africa and there is real footage of an African elephant stampede. For a close up of an elephant charging the actors however they have an Asian elephant with larger prosthetic ears attached.

The 1959 movie "Green Mansions" with Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins is a romantic adventure set in the rain forest of Venezuela. The first problem was a jaguar attack scene with a leopard playing the jaguar. I almost turned off the movie, but decided to let it slide. The next scene featured African crowned cranes wandering around the South American jungle. End of movie for me.

 

Same with the Lion King, only African animals present, except for the song "I Just Can't Wait To Be King", where a tower of animals (hippos, oryx, ostrich) features a group of giant anteaters!

Very exciting that The Lion King is being re-released in 3D this month, can't wait to see it!

 

Would like to add the leaf-cutter ants in 'the Circle of Life,' and if we're being specific how feasible is it to have a meerkat in Kenya - I mean fair enough Simba ran a long way - but could a young, slightly weak lion cub make it all the way from Kenya to Botswana? It is half a continant away

I too can't wait

 

Whoever said that they were in Kenya?

 

Well, it may not be set in Kenya, but the area is certainly based on the Kenyan national park 'Hell's Gate.' Also, Mt. Kilamanjaro can be seen in the films opening when the animals of the pridelands go to Pride Rock to see Simba. And the giraffes in the pridelands, based on the fact they have 'white socks,' are sure to be Rothschild which are only found in Kenya and Uganda - certainly not Botswana - I've looked too deeply into this I think

 

But there are also meerkats in the opening song

 

Ahhh yes - that's a geographical problem

Ahh well, I'll just have to try and imagine them all as banded mongoose

 

I've mentioned it in another thread I think; in the movie Anaconda - the introductory titles state it, and the climax of the film reinforces the myth that anacondas are so aggressive they will regurgitate a meal they have just eaten "just so they can feed again."



Hix

 

@DavidBrown: I'm not quite sure, but I think those Asian elephants with larger prosthetic ears attached you can also find in some Tarzan Movies staring Johnny Weissmueller. Funny thing anyway.

while talking about Tarzan: Wasn't there a ring tailed lemur beyond the jungle animals of Disney's Tarzan?

 

But ring-tailed lemurs live in Africa right? At least I know a lot of zoos that display them in their African exhibits.

 

Well, then you have to accept that capuchin monkeys live in Africa too. I know at least one South African Zoo exhibiting them (okay, not in its "African Zone")...

 

I've never had the "pleasure" of watching the Anaconda movies, but wasn't the sequel set in BORENO? For anyone who has seen this movie, can you confirm if they were looking for anacondas in Borneo? There is first-degree zoological malpractice.

UPDATE:

Here is a summary of the Anaconda sequel from IMDB. Apparently Hollywood has discovered that anacondas do in fact live in Borneo AND they mate in packs. All you reptile curators please take note and update your anaconda exhibit signs.

"In New York, the ambitious Dr. Jack Byron and his associate Gordon Mitchell present the research of his assistant Sam Rogers to the CEO and board of directors of a corporation to sponsor a scientific expedition to Borneo. The objective is to find a flower, Blood Orchid, that flourishes for a couple of weeks every seven years and could be a fountain of youth, prolonging the expectation of life of human beings. They are succeeded and once in Borneo, they realize that it is the raining season and there is no boat available to navigate on the river. They pay US$ 50,000.00 to convince Captain Bill Johnson and his partner Tran to sail to the location. After an accident in a waterfall, the survivors realize that a pack of anacondas have gathered for mating and their nest is nearby the plantation of Blood Orchid, which made them bigger and bigger."

 

Oh yes, one more:

No matter where you are in the world, if you are in a jungle, you will always here aither a peacock or kookaburra calling. Sometimes both.



Hix

 

In the same arena, whenever a majestic eagle cries out in a movie it is really a red-tailed hawk dubbed in.

 

And any UK production with a dramatic, foreboding scene always has an American crow noise dubbed in, which is much higher-pitched than the UK version. I even saw a program the other day which showed footage of a jackdaw with a crow noise added over the top!