10 Facts About Tarzan That Will Surprise You
- 7 years ago
10 Facts About Tarzan That Will Surprise You
In the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs (pictured above), the great apes have their own unique language. And according to this primate dialect, “tar” means “white,” and “zan” means “skin.” Put these two together, and voila, you get “Tarzan.” In the novels, Tarzan’s adoptive ape-mother, Kala, gives him this name when she sees his pale, hairless skin.But Burroughs didn’t come up with that name out of nowhere. In 1910, while he was living in Chicago, Burroughs fell in love with the southern California community of Tarzana. He even purchased some land there. Several years later, when he needed a name for the human boy raised by apes, he thought of Tarzana. He dropped that final vowel from the end, and a legend was born.Interestingly, the community wasn’t officially named Tarzana—or anything else, for that matter—until it incorporated and got a post office in 1930. This has led to the urban myth that the town was named for the ape-man, but the truth is actually the other way around.
Everybody knows Tarzan was raised by gorillas. It’s part of the established Tarzan lore . . . right? Well, this is a common misconception. In fact, it’s so common that a number of movies have gotten it wrong.Tarzan was actually raised by a species of ape unknown to science. These creatures resemble gorillas in size and strength, but they differ in other ways. These great apes often walk upright, hunt animals, eat meat, and have a spoken language. They call themselves the “mangani,” and Burroughs describes them as “huge,” “fierce,” and “terrible.” He adds that they’re “a species closely allied to the gorilla, yet more intelligent.” Thanks to their smarts and strength, the mangani are “the most fearsome of these awe-inspiring progenitors of man.”As for gorillas, the mangani refer to them as the “bolgani.” And believe it or not, Tarzan actually does battle with these massive primates. In Tarzan of the Apes, Burroughs describes a young Tarzan’s first encounter with a massive gorilla:“He had taken scarce a dozen steps toward the jungle when a great form rose up before him from the shadows of the low brush. At first he thought it was one of his own people but in another instant he realized it was Bolgani, the huge gorilla. So close was he that there was no chance for flight and little Tarzan knew that he must stand and fight for his life; for these great beasts were the deadly enemies of his tribe, and neither one nor the other ever asked or gave quarte
In the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs (pictured above), the great apes have their own unique language. And according to this primate dialect, “tar” means “white,” and “zan” means “skin.” Put these two together, and voila, you get “Tarzan.” In the novels, Tarzan’s adoptive ape-mother, Kala, gives him this name when she sees his pale, hairless skin.But Burroughs didn’t come up with that name out of nowhere. In 1910, while he was living in Chicago, Burroughs fell in love with the southern California community of Tarzana. He even purchased some land there. Several years later, when he needed a name for the human boy raised by apes, he thought of Tarzana. He dropped that final vowel from the end, and a legend was born.Interestingly, the community wasn’t officially named Tarzana—or anything else, for that matter—until it incorporated and got a post office in 1930. This has led to the urban myth that the town was named for the ape-man, but the truth is actually the other way around.
Everybody knows Tarzan was raised by gorillas. It’s part of the established Tarzan lore . . . right? Well, this is a common misconception. In fact, it’s so common that a number of movies have gotten it wrong.Tarzan was actually raised by a species of ape unknown to science. These creatures resemble gorillas in size and strength, but they differ in other ways. These great apes often walk upright, hunt animals, eat meat, and have a spoken language. They call themselves the “mangani,” and Burroughs describes them as “huge,” “fierce,” and “terrible.” He adds that they’re “a species closely allied to the gorilla, yet more intelligent.” Thanks to their smarts and strength, the mangani are “the most fearsome of these awe-inspiring progenitors of man.”As for gorillas, the mangani refer to them as the “bolgani.” And believe it or not, Tarzan actually does battle with these massive primates. In Tarzan of the Apes, Burroughs describes a young Tarzan’s first encounter with a massive gorilla:“He had taken scarce a dozen steps toward the jungle when a great form rose up before him from the shadows of the low brush. At first he thought it was one of his own people but in another instant he realized it was Bolgani, the huge gorilla. So close was he that there was no chance for flight and little Tarzan knew that he must stand and fight for his life; for these great beasts were the deadly enemies of his tribe, and neither one nor the other ever asked or gave quarte