==Construction==
Construction on Disney's Animal Kingdom began in August of 1995. Like other Disney theme parks, Animal Kingdom was made up of various "lands". The When designing the park, 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 one billion dollars to build. Four million cubic yards of dirt were moved and nearly 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. They came from various zoo's or wildlife preserves around the world. A few animals were also from the wild, but were too injured to be re-released. In total Animal Kingdom is home to over 1,700 animals.