It’s a well known fact that Disney movies are inaccurate scientifically and historically. They tend to bend the truth in order to tell a story. However, there are probably some things from Disney movies that you assumed were true; especially about some our most beloved Disney animals. Here are 10 scientific inaccuracies in Disney movies.
1. The “personality islands” in Inside Out don’t exist
In the movie personality islands are different sides of a person including their traits, love for hobbies, and what they feel is right or wrong. If something changes within that person’s brain then the island is torn down and has to be rebuilt. According to psychologist Nathaniel Herr‘s interview with Business Insider, there is no area in our brain that does this
2. Nemo’s dad would have become a girl at some point in Finding Nemo.
You read that right. According to a fish biologist, clownfish are all sequential hermaphrodites so they start off as boys but will change sex if they pair off and it is necessary. After all, if Nemo’s siblings and mother was killed that means Nemo or his dad would have become a girl to continue their species with…each other. The biologist says Marlin would have most likely made the change.
3. Dory wouldn’t have known who her parents were in the first place in Finding Dory.
The entire premise of Finding Dory is that Dory remembers she had parents so she goes to find them. However scientists have already come out saying the entire plot is inaccurate. Regal blue tangs spawn in a water column, let the ocean currents take their eggs, and the eggs hatch never having a relationship with their parents.
4. King Louie’s species in The Jungle Book doesn’t belong in India.
You might love the early version of the story but the orangutan known as King Louie in 1967’s The Jungle Book was wrong because the species doesn’t belong in India like the other animals. The 2016 live-action version of this corrects this wrong by changing the species.
5. Male mosquitoes don’t drink blood in A Bug’s Life.
Most people keep a safe distance from mosquitoes, therefore they probably don’t know that only female mosquitoes drink blood to produce eggs. Male mosquitoes on the other hand drink nectar from flowers. However in A Bug’s Life we clearly see a male mosquito drinking blood at a bar.
6. The plant in WALL-E would have froze.
We see Wall-E save the plant from an explosion by flying through space. However, according to Jacob Clark Blickenstaff an Assistant Professor of Physics , his body isn’t pressurized and the temperature of space is -450 F°/-268°C. This means the plant would have froze and the gasses keeping the plant alive would have evaporated.
7. Kevin in Up would indeed be a boy.
There is a weird fakeout in the movie where we assume that the Himalayan monal pheasant is male. It isn’t until later that they realize it is female. However this is inaccurate since colorful feathers only belong to males in this species.
8. Bears were already extinct in Scotland by the time Brave took place.
There are actually two things we can point out when it comes to bears in Brave. One, bears native to Europe are brown instead of black. Two, bears became extinct in Scotland in the prehistoric period. Yes, we know the bears in the movie used to be humans and were changed by magic. But perhaps they could have found a balance between science and mysticism by picking another animal, or the right color fur?
9. A lot of the dinosaurs in The Good Dinosaur didn’t exist together
This entire movie is factually inaccurate. But one thing the average person probably didn’t pick up on is that a lot of dinosaurs in the movie never lived at the same time. For example Arlo is an Apatosaurs but we also see a T-Rex in the movie. Arlo existed about 160 million years ago while the T-Rex lived about 65 to 70 million years ago. Basically our main character should have been extinct.
10. The hyenas in The Lion King wouldn’t be scavengers.
In order to make the hyenas even more despicable antagonists the writers didn’t stick entirely to science when creating them. The hyenas in the movie are spotted which typically kill their food as a pack. It’s the stripped hyenas who are scavengers yet the movie shows them scavenging and attempting to kill.
