So What Happened to Mufasa’s Body?

So there’s this movie called The Lion King. You may have heard of it, may have watched it, may have shed a single thug tear for a certain James Earl Jones-voiced lion. If you’re like me that “tear” is more like “full-blown sobbing every time someone asks for a list of most gut-wrenching Disney moments.” Mufasa’s death is on the top of a lot of painful death lists for good reason. It’s a truly tragic moment, coupled with Scar’s manipulation and, apparently, cannibalistic ways…?

No.

Y’all play too much.

Scar didn’t EAT Mufasa’s body.

Right?

I’m not one of those Disney theorists. I’m just a girl on social media who, sometimes, comes across a video that shatters my entire existence. I’ve never really given much thought to Mufasa’s body and the whereabouts of it, but if you asked me before today I probably would’ve said that it decomposed because, “When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass, and so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life.”

Now, however, there’s this cursed video.

Watch til the end 😮🤭😳🤯 pic.twitter.com/hBerLjzttv

— Lightskin Tupac 🔞💯 (@infinite67_) January 12, 2021

My completely professional response.

via GIPHY

But wait, I say before I completely ruin someone’s day (it might already be too late, I apologize for that), because that’s been disproven by this video here:

@straw_hat_goofy@classyking0 close but no cigar♬ original sound – Juju

That’s … better?

via GIPHY

Honestly, that would fit perfectly with Scar’s character, you know? Keeping a trophy of his conquest? I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me that the lion who had an entire musical number about his murderous intentions toward his brother, gaslighting his nephew, and taking over the land kept a skull souvenir.

It absolutely checks out. Scar really is that petty. And he’d delight in doing it in front of Zazu, too. I’m surprised no one’s come up with a theory of Scar bringing Mufasa’s body to the pride and proposing that they all eat him for nourishment since food is limited.

I’m suddenly missing seeing Simba’s unrealistic all bug diet.

I tried researching whether or not lions eat each other and found out that most will eat rival cubs when they take over a pride, so I guess we’re lucky that Scar didn’t do that. Here’s a snippet from that linked article from Team Africa Geographic.

When a new coalition of males takes over a pride, they almost always kill the prides’ cubs, since they are not biologically related and do not want to spend energy ensuring that other lions’ genes will be passed on. Also, female lions will not be receptive to mating while they are nursing, so killing the cubs enables the male lions to procreate.

The immigrating lions seem to target any cubs that are roughly nine months old or younger – as the mother will still be nursing them – though as in other species, the female will attempt to prevent infanticide by hiding or directly defending their cubs; lionesses are generally more successful at protecting older cubs, as they would be leaving the pride sooner.

Males have, on average, only a two-year window in which to pass on their genes, and lionesses only give birth once every two years, so the selective pressure on them to conform to this behaviour is intense. In fact, it is estimated that a quarter of cubs dying in the first year of life are victims of infanticide (Packer & Pusey, 1984).

So I guess a more accurate story would’ve been Scar killing Mufasa, taking over the pride, and eating Simba?

via GIPHY

Phew, this is why I don’t always go down a rabbit hole of truth with Disney.

(Image: Disney)

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