The odd amount of Shoebills/Secretary Birds in late 2024 movies

OkapiFan

OkapiFan

Well-Known Member
Something I've noticed over the past weeks is that Shoebills and Secretary Birds each have an appearance in 2 movies over the course of this November/December period
Both of these birds are mainly only known by zoo nerds like ourselves and not by the general public
Both of these birds appear in the Wicked movie, while the Secretary Bird also gets a role in the animated movie Flow and the Shoebill will be in Mufasa as shown in trailer footage
I'm certainly not complaining about these awesome animals getting multiple theatrical appearances, but it is a bit odd
 
I noticed the Shoebill twice in the Wicked movie. First at Shiz and second at the Emerald City with secretary birds too there. There was also a flamingo (maybe Chilean or AMerican?) with the common snow leopards. Mufasa apparently has albino lion varients with the shoebill too as well as Nile Crocs and hippos
 
@OkapiFan

So... both species only appear in a total of two recently released movies individually, then? Along with appearing together in a third film?

I'm sorry, but in what world does that constitute an "odd amount of appearances in late 2024 movies"?

If anything, the timing of all of these cameos of semi-obscure bird species is the only strange thing, and that can doubtlessly be put down as a coincidence.

Both species are visually striking, and if nothing else, Hollywood loves to showcase odd-looking animals.

I'm not sure that I would even categorize Shoebills as being unknown to the general public. I've been seeing memes about them for years on social media 'sites. YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, etc and so forth.

@MOG2012

The white lions in Mufasa aren't albinos. The trailers featuring them have clearly shown that they do have some pigmentation.

Although I'm really not sure what sure what Disney was going for with them, given that, visually, they aren't leucistic (Like actual white lions are) either.

They have blue eyes, yeah... but they lack the pink noses and off-cream coloring typical of leucistic lions.

And don't get me started on how they evidently live in a snowy mountain range, when wild leucistic lions have only occurred in... --Drum roll-- the Timbavati area in and around southern Kruger National Park. Which is neither mountainous nor renowned for receiving extensive snowfall.

(The Timbavati area is actually known for it's wide, sandy riverbanks. The going theory is that leucistic lions blend in better amongst the sand then their typically colored counterparts do.)
 
Wisp O' Mist said:
And don't get me started on how they evidently live in a snowy mountain range, when wild leucistic lions have only occurred in... --Drum roll-- the Timbavati area in and around southern Kruger National Park. Which is neither mountainous nor renowned for receiving extensive snowfall.

(The Timbavati area is actually known for it's wide, sandy riverbanks. The going theory is that leucistic lions blend in better amongst the sand then their typically colored counterparts do.)
Click to expand...

They don't actually talk to each other and sing in real life either
 
Shoebill are gaining popularity on social media in a similar way to sloths and capybara in the past, nowhere near on the same level, but the odd appearance can create an attention-grabbing thumbinail video and the 'dinosaur bird' nickname raises the eyebrow. They are breaking a bit out from being a 'zoo nerd' species, I think. I don't know what the deal with the secretary bird is.
 
MOG2012 said:
I noticed the Shoebill twice in the Wicked movie. First at Shiz and second at the Emerald City with secretary birds too there. There was also a flamingo (maybe Chilean or AMerican?) with the common snow leopards. Mufasa apparently has albino lion varients with the shoebill too as well as Nile Crocs and hippos
Click to expand...
Hippos have always been in the Lion King Movies and have appeared in the Last One.

There are other new animals appearing in Mufasa, Southern Carmine Bee-Eaters, Olive Baboons, Egyptian Fruit Bats, and African Crested Porcupines.
 
JVM said:
Shoebill are gaining popularity on social media in a similar way to sloths and capybara in the past, nowhere near on the same level, but the odd appearance can create an attention-grabbing thumbinail video and the 'dinosaur bird' nickname raises the eyebrow. They are breaking a bit out from being a 'zoo nerd' species, I think. I don't know what the deal with the secretary bird is.
Click to expand...

I swear that as recently as the early-to-mid 00s red pandas were still a rather niche animal in America, or at least nowhere near their current ubiquity. I recall showing pictures of them to people back then and they thought the pandas were cute, but weren't too familiar with the species. Appearances in movies like Kung Fu Panda gave them a huge boost in recognition and now they're wildly popular on social media.

I wonder if video games like Planet Zoo have also played a role. Both shoebills and secretary birds were highly requested animals among the community, probably the two most requested bird species by a wide margin IIRC, which was a little surprising since neither are commonly found in American zoos (though secretary birds are more common in European zoos).
 
Wisp O' Mist said:
That's no excuse for Disney to not do it's homework.
Click to expand...
I think that is all pretty forgivable compared to one thing that irked me a fair bit in the Lion King remake....
In the Hakuna Matata number, we have the part where Pumbaa is singing about 'when he was a young warthoooooooooooooooooooooog'.... and we cut to a scene of what is meant to be little Pumbaa in a watering hole.
Except that what was depicted by the animators and co was not a warthog at all.... but a young wild boar!
 
I have seen shoebills featured in the following media:

Final Fantasy 14

The german children’s book “Urmel aus dem Eis” and it’s adaptations

The anime “Shirokuma Cafe”/“Polar Bears Cafe”

I have seen secretary birds featured in:

The anime “Agretsuko”

The animated series “Kiff”

My point being that these birds have been here and there within entertainment before.
 
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dillotest0 said:
I think that is all pretty forgivable compared to one thing that irked me a fair bit in the Lion King remake....
In the Hakuna Matata number, we have the part where Pumbaa is singing about 'when he was a young warthoooooooooooooooooooooog'.... and we cut to a scene of what is meant to be little Pumbaa in a watering hole.
Except that what was depicted by the animators and co was not a warthog at all.... but a young wild boar!
Click to expand...

So much for the remake being "realistic"!

I remember watching an interview with it's director and the guy legit would not shut up about how it was his vision for the film to become renowned for it's "realism".
 
SeaOtterHQ said:
I swear that as recently as the early-to-mid 00s red pandas were still a rather niche animal in America, or at least nowhere near their current ubiquity. I recall showing pictures of them to people back then and they thought the pandas were cute, but weren't too familiar with the species. Appearances in movies like Kung Fu Panda gave them a huge boost in recognition and now they're wildly popular on social media.

I wonder if video games like Planet Zoo have also played a role. Both shoebills and secretary birds were highly requested animals among the community, probably the two most requested bird species by a wide margin IIRC, which was a little surprising since neither are commonly found in American zoos (though secretary birds are more common in European zoos).
Click to expand...

The Red Pandas got a Major breakout Role in Popular Culture in Disney/Pixar's Turning Red.
 
SeaOtterHQ said:
I swear that as recently as the early-to-mid 00s red pandas were still a rather niche animal in America, or at least nowhere near their current ubiquity. I recall showing pictures of them to people back then and they thought the pandas were cute, but weren't too familiar with the species. Appearances in movies like Kung Fu Panda gave them a huge boost in recognition and now they're wildly popular on social media.

I wonder if video games like Planet Zoo have also played a role. Both shoebills and secretary birds were highly requested animals among the community, probably the two most requested bird species by a wide margin IIRC, which was a little surprising since neither are commonly found in American zoos (though secretary birds are more common in European zoos).
Click to expand...

I would like to see both of them in the Game, I was introduced to the Secretary Bird in Zoo Tycoon 2 as part of the African Adventure expansion Pack and there was even a Campaign Mode Mission based on them.

What Animals did Planet Zoo play a role introducing Lesser Known or Obscue to the Public other than reintroducing animals that were in the Zoo Tycoon Games?
 
Wisp O' Mist said:
So much for the remake being "realistic"!

I remember watching an interview with it's director and the guy legit would not shut up about how it was his vision for the film to become renowned for it's "realism".
Click to expand...
The point is not that this film is so realistic that a zoologist could find it impeccable. Then there wouldn't be the leafcutter ants in Africa, Zazu would resemble more closely an actual species of hornbill, the antelope in 'Lion Sleeps Tonight' wouldn't look so generic, perhaps some others that I forget.
It was a film meant to sell to the zoology-uninformed public for the large part; and have it accurate enough that there are no major outliers. I think as far as realistic CGI animals in a realistic CGI movie go it's quite well done. Not all is perfect but oh well. But as a movie that stands on its own.... I don't think so. This was made to capitalise on one of Disney's largest brands, and the remade scenes somehow aren't quite as impactful in my opinion.
Though looking at the Mufasa trailer for the upcoming sequeloid I think it does some things better. There is more impressive choreography [seems like they threw the 'animals don't form giant towers in the wild!' mantra out the window], more expressions on the animals' faces, and it even has Kimba!
 
Thomas said:
What Animals did Planet Zoo play a role introducing Lesser Known or Obscue to the Public other than reintroducing animals that were in the Zoo Tycoon Games?
Click to expand...

Not much I'd say, but I feel like this is because while Zoo Tycoon 2 was made primarily for a younger audience with limited knowledge on animals, while Planet Zoo seems like it was targeted for more mature folks who grew up loving ZT2 or similar games like it, judging by its more robust management and building mechanics. These people would ptobably have already been animal/Zoo enthusiasts
 
Slightly off topic, Google Trends is surprisingly helpful when it comes to researching how popular a topic/species is in the public eye, since we are prone to be biased in our personal observations. Of course Google Trends results don't always correlate with how many appearances an animal has in media, but it could tell us how impactful an appearance(s) of an animal has on the public consciousness.

Google Searches for Shoebills for example, have spiked a few times starting back in September 2016, with the 3 highest spikes going from highest to lowest being:
  1. May 2018
  2. March 2024
  3. June 2022
One of the large initial spikes back in February 2017 was almost certainly caused by its appearance in the 2017 anime, Kemono Friends where it became strangely popular amongst anime enthusiasts despite not being a main character.
 
Mossman Joe said:
Slightly off topic, Google Trends is surprisingly helpful when it comes to researching how popular a topic/species is in the public eye, since we are prone to be biased in our personal observations. Of course Google Trends results don't always correlate with how many appearances an animal has in media, but it could tell us how impactful an appearance(s) of an animal has on the public consciousness.

Google Searches for Shoebills for example, have spiked a few times starting back in September 2016, with the 3 highest spikes going from highest to lowest being:
  1. May 2018
  2. March 2024
  3. June 2022
One of the large initial spikes back in February 2017 was almost certainly caused by its appearance in the 2017 anime, Kemono Friends where it became strangely popular amongst anime enthusiasts despite not being a main character.
Click to expand...
Same here, and Seasons 1 and 2 have made Servals and Caracals my Favorite Small Wildcats
 
Wisp O' Mist said:
@OkapiFan

So... both species only appear in a total of two recently released movies individually, then? Along with appearing together in a third film?

I'm sorry, but in what world does that constitute an "odd amount of appearances in late 2024 movies"?

If anything, the timing of all of these cameos of semi-obscure bird species is the only strange thing, and that can doubtlessly be put down as a coincidence.

Both species are visually striking, and if nothing else, Hollywood loves to showcase odd-looking animals.

I'm not sure that I would even categorize Shoebills as being unknown to the general public. I've been seeing memes about them for years on social media 'sites. YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, etc and so forth.

@MOG2012

The white lions in Mufasa aren't albinos. The trailers featuring them have clearly shown that they do have some pigmentation.

Although I'm really not sure what sure what Disney was going for with them, given that, visually, they aren't leucistic (Like actual white lions are) either.

They have blue eyes, yeah... but they lack the pink noses and off-cream coloring typical of leucistic lions.

And don't get me started on how they evidently live in a snowy mountain range, when wild leucistic lions have only occurred in... --Drum roll-- the Timbavati area in and around southern Kruger National Park. Which is neither mountainous nor renowned for receiving extensive snowfall.

(The Timbavati area is actually known for it's wide, sandy riverbanks. The going theory is that leucistic lions blend in better amongst the sand then their typically colored counterparts do.)
Click to expand...
Thought I’d add that in the movie proper, the white lions aren’t shown as actually being from the snowy mountains; they merely pursue the protagonists through them.
 
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