Misclassified Animated Characters

Rufus

In the popular animated series Kim Possible, Kim’s sidekick Ron Stoppable has a small, super-smart, super-cute hairless pink rodent named Rufus as a pet. It was the only pet he could have as his father was allergic to anything furry (and he probably didn’t like reptiles either). At least in this case, the show did mention to which species Rufus belonged. He is a Naked Mole Rat (Heterocephalus glaber). These rodents are found in Africa, live in underground colonies ruled by a queen (just like termites!) and are nowhere near as cute as their animated counterpart.
Many fans become disappointed when they see the actual animal that inspired adorable Rufus; it has actually made it into many lists of ugly animals, even though it is a fascinating creature. Just to mention one of its remarkable traits: it has teeth that grow through the lips so it doesn’t need to open its mouth to use them (very useful if you live underground where dirt would go into your mouth all the time if you spent the day digging tunnels with your teeth). They are also cold blooded, like reptiles, and seem to be invulnerable to pain caused by acid and burning. And they have been known to dig their tunnels in concrete when put in zoo enclosures! Zoos keeping Naked Mole Rats keep them in special, reinforced enclosures. But not even these awesome traits will be enough for disappointed fans who wanted to have a cute, talking and singing Rufus of their own. In reality, Naked Mole Rats can’t survive out of their colony, which is why they are not available as pets.

Timon

Being possibly the most successful animated movie of all time, characters from The Lion King are known to almost everyone. Nowadays, most people knows what kind of animal Timon was, since he (and his warthog mate Pumbaa) got to appear in the two sequels to the movie and got a TV series of their own. His species has been mentioned many times since. But when the movie came out for the first time, most people was left wondering what kind of animal Timon was. Some said it was a weasel, a ferret, and when I first saw the movie, I was convinced it was a Banded Mongoose. Turns out I was close; Timon is a meerkat (Suricata suricatta), a small mongoose species found in the Kalahari Desert of Africa.
Meerkats feed on insects and larvae (just like Timon), and even on scorpions and lizards sometimes. They live in groups where there is always a sentry watching for predators while the others feed; if the sentry gives an alarm call, the other meerkats run into their burrows immediately. This behavior was portrayed in The Lion King 1/2, the second sequel to The Lion King. It must be noted that, even though Timon seems to walk on two legs most of the time, meerkats are quadrupedal and only adopt a standing posture to watch their surroundings.

Tai Lung

The immensely powerful villain in Kung Fu Panda has been called “a tiger”, “a jaguar”, and even “white cheetah” by both misinformed fans and the press.
In reality, he was a Snow Leopard. Snow Leopards are among the least known large predators in the world; they may look like leopards due to their spotted fur, but they are actually the closest living relatives to Tigers, according to recent genetic studies.
They live in the snowy mountains of Central Asia, and are seldom seen in the wild. Unlike other big cats, they don’t seem prone to attacking people, although they are still feared in their native lands. Being one of the few natural predators of the Giant Panda (they have been known to hunt panda cubs, especially when they wander away from their mother), it was only natural that this beautiful cat ended up being the antagonist in this successful film.

Kaa

Kaa the snake is one of the most famous characters from both Rudyard Kipling’s novel, The Jungle Book, and the numerous film adaptations that have followed. Probably, most people remember him best after his 1967 appearance in Disney’s animated version of the story. Kaa was depicted in this movie as a villain, instead of a friend as in Kipling’s novel, and was given the ability to hypnotize prey by simply making eye contact with them. (It didn’t seem to work on tigers, though). But even though the character may be well known, many people still refer to Kaa as a “boa constrictor” or “anaconda”. The fact that Kaa was portrayed by an actual anaconda in one of the live action film versions didn’t help either.
In reality, Kaa is an Indian Python (Python molurus), also known as an Asian Rock Python or Burmese Python. Kipling stated that Kaa was around 9 meters long, which makes him an exceptionally large specimen, since most Indian Pythons usually don’t grow over 6 meters long. Often seen in zoos, private collections and in the movies (since they are large and spectacular but relatively docile compared to other large pythons), Indian pythons are sadly becoming rare in their native territories due to hunting, excessive collecting for the pet market, and habitat destruction.

Rafiki

 
Yet another Lion King character, Rafiki (whose name means “friend” in Swahilli) does not actually belong to any real species. He is officially referred to as a baboon, and at some point of the movie he implies that himself. However, he seems to be a mix between a baboon and a mandrill (having the long tail and large mane of a baboon, but the colorful nose, cheeks and buttocks of a mandrill). In reality, Mandrills are not found in open plains and are native to the jungles of western Africa, far away from the Lion King’s “Pridelands” which are supposed to be located in the Serengeti.
Interestingly, in a later Disney movie, Tarzan, a huge troop of Rafiki-like monkeys, with mandrill-like faces but baboon-like manes and tails, are among the dangerous fauna faced by the film’s hero. Why Disney animators end up using these baboon-mandrill hybrids as replacements for actual baboons and mandrills, is anyone’s guess, but we have to recognize that the result looks kinda cool.

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