Every Disney World park has an icon — a single structure that stands above everything else and represents that park.

In Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it’s the Tower of  Terror. In EPCOT, it’s Spaceship Earth. In Magic Kingdom, it’s Cinderella Castle. However, the most LIFELIKE icon is in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We’re talking about the stunning Tree of Life, the centerpiece of Animal Kingdom that isn’t even a real tree at all — say what?

The Tree of Life is an oil rig

Yes, that’s right. The Tree of Life is not a real tree. It’s an artificial baobob tree built around an oil rig. According to our friends at AllEars.net, Disney Imagineers saw an oil rig and decided it would be a good, solid structure to build the tree onto. Want to see how they did it? Here’s a time-lapse video of the Tree of Life’s construction.

If that doesn’t blow your mind, we don’t know what will!

Here Are 5 Places to Escape in Animal Kingdom When Your Anxiety Is Through the Roof

Over 300 animals are carved into the tree

You’ll want to get up close and personal with the tree via the Discovery Island Trails to look at all the animals carved into the tree’s roots, trunk, and branches, According to our friends at AllEars.net, the animals were carved with a special plaster — artists had to create each animal carving within 6-7 hours before the plaster hardened. 

Also, according to AllEars.net, primate researcher Jane Goodall visited the construction of the tree and asked where she might find a chimpanzee on it. That resulted in the ONLY animal to have an actual name on the tree — the chimp was modeled after Goodall’s most famous subject, David Graybeard — you can find it at the entrance to “It’s Tough To Be a Bug” at the base of the tree.

Here Are Some Disney Shirts For Animal Kingdom Lovers

It has a lot of branches and leaves

The Tree of Life has over 8,000 branches and over 100,000 leaves — and no, these aren’t real either. All of that work was done by Disney Imagineers (seriously, is there anything they CAN’T do?). More importantly, though, the branches can withstand hurricane-force winds, something that the state of Florida often has to contend with.

How do they know it can withstand those winds? Well, when the tree was built, Disney commissioned a wind tunnel study to test if those branches could survive 100mph winds.

The leaves are made of a special plastic called Kynar — there are four different shapes in all, with each measuring more than a foot long. Five shades of green were used when painting them. Because each leaf was individually placed, they blow in the wind like real leaves (but are a lot stronger).

Why You WON’T See Fireworks at Animal Kingdom in Disney World

The Tree of Life has its own origin story

This is Disney, folks. So you KNOW that NOTHING exists in a Disney park without a story, and the Tree of Life is no different. This story starts with an ant at a time when nothing would grow on Discovery Island — the land was barren. This ant, though, planted a seed and made a special wish for the tree to grow and bring animals to the island.

In true Disney fashion, the ant’s wish came true and the tree grew so big that the animals came — and the images of all the animals that sheltered under the tree appeared as carvings on it. 

You’ll also find a carving of the ant on the tree.

What a beautiful story about a beautiful structure! Gotta love Disney for its imagination, right?

Only EXPERTS of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Know These 15 Things!

The tree is 145 feet tall

The Tree of Life is HUGE — it stands over Animal Kingdom at a whopping 145 feet. The bottom trunk alone is 50 feet wide.

“The Tree of Life is a technological marvel, but it’s also a symbol of the beauty and diversity and the grandeur of our animal life on Earth,” said Joe Rohde, the retired Disney Imagineer who was the chief designer of Animal Kingdom. “It’s a celebration of our emotions about animals and their habitats. We want you to look up at it, to regard it with awe and wonder and to translate those feelings to the real animal world.”

There’s a show inside

The Tree of Life is SO big that it actually hosts the “It’s Tough To Be A Bug” show, which features characters from A Bug’s Life. Inside, you’ll put on a pair of “bug” glasses (3D glasses) and see the world from a bug’s eye view. The show features animatronics, in-theater 4D effects, and more.

Warning, this show can get…um…stinky.

3 Rides You Didn’t Realize Would Terrify You in Disney World

So the next time you visit Animal Kingdom, take a moment to really appreciate this marvel of the modern world — the tree that isn’t a tree that has everyone convinced otherwise. Be sure to wander the trails around the tree, too, to take in all the animal carvings to appreciate every little detail that went into creating it. 

When are you headed to Disney World next? Have you checked out our line of fun graphic tees to wear on your trip? We’ve designed some for the whole family – from infants to adults! Click here to check them out!

What’s your favorite thing about the Tree of Life? Let us know in the comments!