Ok. I was looking at pictures of Hyena's in real life when I noticed they looked way different the the hyena's in the lion king series. In the lion king series they are gray with black spotts but in real life the are more brown. The tails still have black on it but not the whole tail like the animators put in. They don't have black manes in real life either.

Wild Hyenas:

Lion King's Hyena's:

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Aniu_loup, July 24, 2006 at 10: 45 Member

First of all it's an animated movie, so the designs do not need to be exactly the same as the real animals. And the hyenas weren't the only ones. All lions, Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki and Zazu do NOT have the same colours as the real animals.

lexipooh10, July 24, 2006 at 13: 33 Member

I agree with Aniu_loup.For example: Rafiki shouldn't have a tail because he's a mandrill.

DarkSpiritWolf, July 26, 2006 at 06: 03 Member

well at least we can tell they're hyenas by looking at them...i agree with Aniu_loup...but lexipooh10, i thought rafiki was a baboon??

Nessa, July 28, 2006 at 01: 56 Member

i thought rafiki was a babopon too.

Shiro, July 29, 2006 at 21: 23 Member

He referred to himself as a baboon in TLK...hmm...maybe they thought children would be more familiar with baboons than mandrills.

lion_king~truth_finder, July 31, 2006 at 19: 14

its an animated film for children, it doesnt have to be exact. children liked it and so do i, it doesnt matter. so basically i agree with Aniu_loup.:P

KakashiGirl, August 09, 2006 at 02: 47 Member

I agree with the post above mine. It's not really a big issue...

kovu<3kiara, August 19, 2006 at 19: 51

ummm... maybe the hyenas are more black because they got burned. because you know how they were living in that volcano place where fire always spews up? maybe they all got burned once or twice by it. i don't know. that's just my opinion. or, maybe the disney animators wanted to make them black to make them look more evil since black is a symbolism of darkness. cause if they were brown like real life, they would look more cute and cuddly instead of mean and ugly. haha

Balto Dude, August 19, 2006 at 20: 24 Member

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :cool: lol :cry: :red: :) :( :o °x° :!

demon dog, October 01, 2006 at 11: 29 Member

maybe its to show there on the bad side

wolf_conductor, October 14, 2006 at 02: 05 Member

Its just an animated movie... Thanx fer pointing that out though...

Canis Lupus, January 21, 2007 at 08: 56 Member

You can get grey hyenas in real life.

layni, February 25, 2007 at 19: 38 Member

i have to agree with aniu loupe because its an animated movie the animals dont have to be the same or have the same design like in the wild because when your making a movie or something its all about using your imagination.

Balto-Me, February 27, 2007 at 01: 58 Member

there are different kinds of hyenas

Phoenix blade, March 06, 2007 at 22: 42 Member

They look a very different color.There are a tan in the picture but in animation there gray.

Tazzy_1992, March 27, 2007 at 09: 33 Member

yeah who really cares? i think because all of the "good guys" were like a goldeny brown colour, and the bad dudes have quite a bit of black on them hence them look darker and more evil

little c4t, May 17, 2007 at 20: 32 Member

well you can tell what animals they are and i'm sure little kids are too bothered about what a hyena's colour is. and besides, no one's done an article like this on the lions and they're pretty different to the lions in the lion king. the lions have reddish or bornw manes in the films but in real life their manes are pretty similar to their fur colour but with dark ends. and the difference between colours of the male and female lions is differnet too. in real life both male and female lions are a pale goldish colour. so reall, the animators probably wanted to give their hyena characters a darker colour to go with their dark and evil personalities.

Vetani C@T***, July 23, 2007 at 15: 10 Member

well the hyenas i would say are kind of a cameo, so they didnt need to be purfect

Conception