My Lion King Forum

I know this topic may be a bit silly/pointless, so feel free to delete.

But I just wanted to point out something that puzzles me..

In the opening scene of SP when Kiara and Simba are at Pride Rock, Kiara starts to chase a butterfly, ignoring Simba, who is trying to talk to her. In order to get her attention, Simba steps on her tail. He then keeps his paw on it for several seconds before moving it.
Now, whenever I`ve stepped on any of my cats tails (by accident, naturally) they`ve always hissed or screeched in pain. Simbas paw is huge, and I find it odd that Kiara doesn`t seem to notice him crushing her tail.. (sorry about the hugeness of the pics)

Good observation. Though aren't lion paws padded on the bottom? This would mean it's not being crushed, just squeezed a little bit.

When I saw it, I did not think he was applying much force on it, just enough to hold her back.

[quote="Noahcs"]Good observation. Though aren't lion paws padded on the bottom? This would mean it's not being crushed, just squeezed a little bit.[/quote]

That`s correct, they are. I guess he`s just applying some gentle pressure.


[quote="FlipMode"]When I saw it, I did not think he was applying much force on it, just enough to hold her back.[/quote]

True. I don`t reckon he`s leaning his full weight on her tail.

Of course, when Simba stepped on her tail, he was just trying to hold her back so she could listen to him. Not enough force for Kiara to have pain or anything. If he would have stepped onto it with harmful pressure, then it would have hurt.

Yeah, exactly what everyone else said. He didn't want to hurt Kiara, just stopping her from running any further so she could listen to him.

like everyone just said, Simba was pressing on Kiara's tail to hold it but no too much to causing her pain

First of all, it's a cartoon. Physics aren't really considered that much.

Secondly, notice how Simba's center of gravity is directly above his other 3 paws, which form a strong triangular base, outlined in red.



This is in addition to his paw not even being directly over Kiara's tail. If you look carefully, you can see that only about 10% of his paw is holding Kiara's tail, the rest of his weight is being supported by the surrounding rock.

[quote="Regulus"]First of all, it's a cartoon. Physics aren't really considered that much.

Secondly, notice how Simba's center of gravity is directly above his other 3 paws, which form a strong triangular base, outlined in red.[/quote]

You blinded me with science Regulus. Nah seriously, I agree with you.

Also, look at the angle of his paw that is holding Kiara's tail. He can't possibly be putting much weight on that paw. I sadly don't know how to express this in terms of physics, but if he did put a lot of weight on that paw with his wrist (do Lions have wrists? lol), it wouldn't be able to hold that angle. If it did, that would put an intense amount of stress on that joint, most likely causing it to break.