Tarzan of the Apes – and Kookaburras

Tarzan lived in Africa and, if you watch any of the old Tarzan movies, you know what the birds of the African jungle sound like: Kookaburras calling. But even before the technological times that made it possible to create entire new worlds like the one in Avatar, movie makers mixed things up however they wanted.

Kookaburras don’t live in African jungles or anywhere else in Africa. They live in Australia and New Zealand. But their calls made for just the right “jungle” sounds for Tarzan.

Here are two samples for you and if you can listen to them without beginning to chuckle, “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.” (Wait. Gunga Din wasn’t in Africa either.)  Anyway, we bet you’ll laugh.

Here is an MP3 file that lasts about a minute and is worth listening to all the way through. (Be patient. It’s very soft at the beginning.)

And here is a short video of another Kookaburra.

“Surely,” you are thinking to yourself, “they won’t do a post about Tarzan’s jungle without giving us a sample of Tarzan himself?”

Of course not.

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You will find a childrens’ song about the Kookaburra here.
A sample of the lyrics? Sure.

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop Kookaburra, stop Kookaburra
That’s no monkey, that’s ME!!!

For more on birds down under, go here.