The Animals of Discovery Island at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

The Animals of Discovery Island at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

The Animals of Discovery Island Opened On: April 27, 1998.

See this page for all of the Disney’s Animal Kingdom attraction reviews.

In addition to the many animal carvings that you’ll see on the Tree of Life, a number of actual animals call Discovery Island home.

Lemur sightings are on the rare side.

You’ll see both the rail-tailed and collared version to the left of the entrance to It’s Tough To Be A Bug.

The cotton-top tamarins hang out across from Creature Comfort Starbucks.

They come in a couple different colors.

And all seem to be having some sort of ongoing existential crisis. Not that I would know anything about that.

It might seem like an odd combination, but you’ll find these kangaroos just to the left of the Tree of Life.

They share the pen with these vultures. The two species do get into the occasional fight, but it seems like the vultures’ dour demeanor and wingspan are enough to fight off what may or may not be friendlier kangaroos with some serious hind legs.

Of course, if you can’t find any “real” animals, there are hundreds carved into the Tree of Life.

Winged Encounters: The Kingdom Takes Flight sets up shop at the front of the Tree of Life. You can read more about that show here.

The Otter Grotto is located to the left of the Tree of Life, across from Pizzafari.

There are a couple viewing areas, including some that look in at the otters underwater.

Usually, they’re in a pile somewhere.

The siamang exhibit is probably technically part of Asia.

But you can’t miss the gibbons out in front of the walkway to Kali River Rapids.

Depending on the time of day, and how badly they’re trying to escape, they get into some serious antics.

Show-offs.

While not technically a “live animal,” we would be remiss to skip over Kevin.

The giant bird from Up enters and exits from a backstage area across from Flame Tree Barbecue. She then proceeds around Discovery Island, typically up through the Caravan Theater to the left of Yak & Yeti Restaurant. She meets intermittently from 9:30am to 4:30pm most days. If you don’t see her around during your first pass, keep an eye out, as she’s typically backstage for just a few minutes.

You can pull up a full list of the animals that you can expect to find at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at DisneyWorld.com here.