Photographer captures monkey recreating iconic ‘Lion King’ scene with baby

A photographer captured a real-life Disney moment when she snapped an image of monkey holding its baby to the sky, just like it was Simba from the iconic Lion King scene.

Israeli photographer Dafna Ben Nun captured the scene during a recent trip to Zimbabwe.

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Her image is reminiscent of the scene from the 1994 Disney animated classic Lion King in which a mandrill named Rafiki presents the baby lion, Simba, to King Mufasa, while atop a cliff. The scene featured Elton John’s Circle of Life.

“Same as the Lion King scene,” the photographer said on Instagram.

The photographer explained to the Times of Israel she was with a group of people watching the animals near a watering hole when the baboon went full Disney. However, the moment was brief. It turns out the monkey she photographed actually snatched the infant primate from its actual mother, apparently a common occurrence within the hierarchy of primate social circles.

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Ben Nun’s image was splashed on British news sites after she sent the image to U.K.-based Caters News Agency, along with other shots from her trip.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw an adult baboon holding a baby, looking exactly like Simba in the Lion King,” she told British media. “They were all in the same group so no harm was done to any of the animals.”