The Tree of Life is the beautiful park icon for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Tree of Life

The tree is impressive for many reasons. It stands at 145 feet tall and features the likenesses of over 300 animals carved into it. You’ve probably walked past, under, or right up next to the tree many times during your visits, but there’s an AWESOME detail about this icon that you probably never noticed!

Did you know there’s a reason why some of the animals are carved in particular spots? Like most (if not all) things in Disney World, things are done with a purpose and meaning behind them, and the Tree of Life’s carvings are no exception.

Tree of Life

At the recent Destination D23, we learned about some of the design secrets and easter eggs at the Tree of Life. One really cool detail about Animal Kingdom’s icon is that while you will find extinct animals on the Tree of Life, they’re only carved into the deadwood roots of the tree, as a sort-of symbol of their extinction.

Some of the extinct animals you’ll find in the “deadwood” of the Tree of Life

So if you’re looking for a dinosaur or two (like a pterodactyl or tyrannosaurus rex or even a triceratops), you’ll have to look in the deadwood roots near the bottom of the tree!

What a cool Easter egg!

Just goes to show, you might have walked past a park icon or other area in Disney World hundreds of times and still not know all of its secrets. We’re on the lookout for all the latest Disney news and hidden details, so stay tuned for more!

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What do you think about this hidden detail? Let us know in the comments! 

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Recently, we were invited by Disney to attend Destination D23. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ