Maybe Louie Doesn’t Wanna be Like You After All

Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!

MINI BELIEVE IT OR NOT –

Because orangutans are not actually native to India, where the film is set, the makers of The Jungle Book decided to model King Louie after the extinct Gigantopithecus

Gigantopithecus existed from 9 million years ago until roughly 100 thousand years ago
It was native to China, India, and Vietnam
It was the largest known ape that ever lived, standing up to 9.8 feet tall and weighing 1,190 pounds
Disney recreated the extinct ape just to remain true to India’s realistic animal life. All this in spite of the fact that they were making a movie about talking animals



MINI BION
“BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection.

Source: Maybe Louie Doesn’t Wanna be Like You After All