Mole or Gopher?

[TheLionPrince]

I don't believe this has never been discussed before, but I've seen some confusion over what type of animal the character below is.

Lion_King_animal.png (62.3 KiB) Viewed 3211 times

I've measured it down to the character either being a mole or gopher.

According the August 1993 script written by Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts (two of the film's screenwriters), they wrote that the character "a mole" while other scripts found here (which I'm sure some of you look on to do "Line by Line") claim it is a gopher.

Also, gophers tend to reside mostly in North America while according to the Wikipedia article, moles can be found in some parts of North America, Asia, and Europe. It also says those moles are completely unrelated mammals to those who live in Australia and southern Africa.

So, it appears the character is a mole, but what species of a mole? The article written by David Cleary offers some suggestions, but I want your own independent thoughts.

[cleargreenwater]

Yeah, I was gonna say, a naked mole rat. Like a mole, and it would forward the purpose of highlighting an additional unique African species.

It may not look like a naked mole rat, but for that matter hornbills aren't really blue, Rafiki is some kind of crossover between a baboon and a mandrill, and I never saw real hyenas like whatever the heck the TLK stylization is in my life, they're like giant grey mouse-rats D:

So why not throw some hair on a naked mole rat?

[DGFone]

The only reason why I say it's a mole is that gophers only live in North America. And seeing as The Lion King is set in Africa, there goes half the options.

[TheLionPrince]

[quote="DGFone"]The only reason why I say it's a mole is that gophers only live in North America. And seeing as The Lion King is set in Africa, there goes half the options. [/quote]

But specifically what species of mole is my question...

[SimbasGuard]

On an episode of Timon and Pumbaa (Zazu's Off-By-One Day) he is refered to as Gopher. As for how a gopher can be in Africa...well maybe he moved there...Yeah I know that is not a valid theory

[TheLionPrince]

[quote="SimbasGuard"]On an episode of Timon and Pumbaa (Zazu's Off-By-One Day) he is refered to as Gopher. As for how a gopher can be in Africa...well maybe he moved there...Yeah I know that is not a valid theory [/quote]

Not to mention, the artists changed his design:

Mole_and_Zazu.png (159.83 KiB) Viewed 3181 times

[ScarsLove]

I think they made him a Gopher even though they clearly knew they don't reside in Africa. However if we have to settle for mole I'd say it's a Gunnings Golden Mole.

[Meskhenet]

[quote="DGFone"]The only reason why I say it's a mole is that gophers only live in North America. And seeing as The Lion King is set in Africa, there goes half the options. [/quote]
I think it's a gopher although it's native to North America it wouldn't be the only non-native species in the movie considering the fact that there were leaf cutter ants that were present in the "Circle of Life" scene.

[DGFone]

I also say again it's a mole because of the nature of "moles" in police work. Coincidence?

Yes, it could be. But at the same time, it's the "mole's" job to basically stick his nose into other creatures' business and report it to Zazu, who then takes it up to the king. And seeing how it's this "mole" that was the first to report about the hyenas in the Pride Lands, it could be very well that this subterranean creature just might have to act sometimes as what is known as a "mole" in policing terms: pretend to be best pals with the baddies so that it can report their doings to the authorities.

So even from a job description, the term "mole" is better than "gopher".

[Meskhenet]

I'm still sticking to my gopher theory because in one of the Zazu episodes his name is revealed to be Gopher.