Construction on Disney's Animal Kingdom began in August of 1995. Like other Disney theme parks, Animal Kingdom was made of of various "lands". The lands in Disney's Animal Kingdom were going to be: The Oasis, Safari Village, Africa, Asia, Conservation Station, Dinoland USA and Beastly Kingdom. Through these lands, Animal Kingdom was supposed to represent, three groups of animals, Current living animals, extinct animals, and mythological animals.
Animal Kingdom cost nearly 1 billion dollars to built. Four million cubic yards of dirt were moved and 40,000 plants were added. It was decided that the plants in Animal Kingdom would need to be put in for two growing seasons before the animals arrived. This meant that the construction team had until the Spring of 1996 to get all the plants in place. This deadline was met, and the fall of 1997 the animals were brought in. Animals The animals were brought in from various places throughout zoo's or wildlife preserves around the world, including a gorrila who arrived on a first class plane . A few animals were also from Chicagothe wild, but were too injured to be re released.