 |
|
|
Meet Gloria the Hippo, star of MADAGASCAR!
As told to Leanne Gluck and Hillary Hazan
Gloria is a hip and happening hippopotamus with a whoooole lot of heart! Read how she and her friends from New York City's Central Park Zoo star in their first movie together! And how a little bit confidence and a smidge of courage can bring you a long way—all the way across the world!
A Star Is Born
The movie I'm in is about how me and my crew (Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, and Melman, the Giraffe) from New York City's Central Park Zoo ended up all the way across the world in Madagascar!
Stick By Your Friends
It all started when Marty went looking for adventure and broke out of the zoo. Alex and I knew we had to find him. Melman was nervous, but we dragged him with us because we're a team. But don't worry—by the end of our journey, he was as confident as his neck was long. Long story short…we ended up in Madagascar!
That's the name of the movie too. Madagascar. Melman was the only world traveler of the bunch before this movie—he's lived at both the Central Park Zoo AND the Bronx Zoo! Me, I was born at the Central Park Zoo—it was the only place I'd ever lived.
Mada—where?
Madagascar. I didn't know where it was either, before we started filming. Go and get a map. Really! Go and get one! Now find Africa. It's the big continent between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Okay, now put your finger on Egypt. Travel south, down the coast of Africa. Pass Sudan and then hook around Somalia, slide past Kenya and Tanzania, then Mozambique…STOP!!!! Catch your breath. It's been a long journey so far—I should know. Now head out to sea, into the Indian Ocean and there it is! The exotic island of Madagascar. You made it!
It's a Jungle Out There!
Life in Madagascar was really different—after all, I'm a city girl at heart. Back at the Zoo I was used to three meals a day, my own private pool, and each day thousands of my fans would line up to see me. It was much different in Madagascar. I had to muster up all the courage I could. We had to find our own food, meet new animals, and get used to nature—Melman had the most trouble with that.
At first, it was scary. But in the end, it was fun and exciting. If you're gonna get stuck on an island, it might as well be with your best friends. And now, there is going to be a movie all about it!
10 Fun Facts About Madagascar
 |
|
About the Film
- It took a crew of over 240 people over 3½ years to complete the film.
- There are many familiar New York City places featured in the movie: the Central Park Zoo, Grand Central Station, and Fifth Avenue.
- The look of the jungle was inspired by the paintings of French artist Henri Rousseau.
About the Characters
- Melman's neck has 20 bones. Like most mammals, an actual giraffe has seven neck bones.
- Alex has five fingers on each hand...except when he is on all four feet, in which case he only has four fingers on each hand.
- Alex has a total of 50,342 hairs in his mane. He has an additional 1,707,279 hairs in his fur.
- Madagascar features such local Malagasy creatures as Lemurs, Fossas, Aye-Ayes, Tenrecs, and Chameleons.
About the Special Effects
- Two-thirds of the film takes place in the jungles of Madagascar. That means that someone had to draw nearly 4 million leaves for every single jungle shot…AND make them gently move in the wind.
- There are 219 crowd shots featured in the film!
- The "Meet the Fossa" sequence features the biggest crowd of furry animals in a Computer Generated (CG) film so far—1,100 lemurs.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
