Zootopia

This article is about the fictional city in Zootopia. For the land at Shanghai Disneyland, see Zootopia (Shanghai Disneyland).

Zootopia is the titular urban setting of Disney's 2016 animated feature film of the same name.

Background[]

Zootopia is described as a "modern, civilized world that is entirely animal", meaning it is a world where human life is nonexistent, and anthropomorphic animals thrive in their place. Originally a mammal watering hole thousands of years prior,^[3] Zootopia grew into a city built by animals, for animals. Unfortunately, Zootopia is, similar to the human world, plagued with prejudice. Small and weak animals, especially prey animals like rabbits and sheep are often underestimated by large herbivores and predators, such as elephants and tigers. The prey animals, especially the small ones, are often seen as weak and find themselves being underestimated and underappreciated. Predators are often viewed as loud, arrogant and violent by the prey, who make up 90% of the population. In spite of this, the city holds the mantra of "In Zootopia, anyone can be anything", coined by the city's noble head, Mayor Lionheart, who has worked on a project known as the Mammal Inclusion Initiative that, in theory, provides all species of mammals high-ranking opportunities in every part of Zootopian society.

To accommodate the residents of each district's environmental requirements, Zootopia's districts feature artificial climate zones. For districts with opposing climate zones, there are massive walls separating them designed to ventilate the air temperatures between the two environments, similar to air conditioners.^[2] Zootopia also features an extensive transit system for all sizes of mammal, including a smaller section for rodents to board safely from larger animals.

Development[]

During story development, there were other districts in the city of Zootopia that were developed but not used in the film. These include Outback Island, the Meadowlands, the Nocturnal District,^[4] the Burrows,^[5] the Canals, and Happytown.^[6] The Burrows may have been a precursor of Bunnyburrow, and Happytown (actually a slummy district) seems particularly geared toward the darker, more dystopian versions of the story that were later abandoned.

Some existing cities in the diverse world of Zootopia had to get cut out of the film, although some remain on the map, as seen in the film. Those include the Meadowlands, which are all sheep; an Australian district named Outback Island; and the Nocturnal District, a city of caves.^[7] There were cities for reptiles and birds^[7]—classes of animals also not present in the film^[8]—as opposed to Zootopia's all-mammal population.^[9]

Districts[]

Zootopia is divided into several districts. Their names are as follows:

Sahara Square
- Canyonlands*
Tundratown
- Polar Strait*
Little Rodentia
Rainforest District
Downtown
- Savanna Central
Meadowlands^[10]*
Canal District^[10]*
Marshlands*
- Marsh Market
  - Reptile Hideout
Nocturnal District^[11]*
Outback Island^[12]*

*These districts were shown, alluded to, or confirmed in supplementary materials but were never mentioned or explored in the film.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

90% of the city's population consists of prey animals.^[13]
- In ecology, this is called the Rule of Ten: for every predatory animal, there must be ten times as many prey animals to sustain them.
There are no birds, reptiles, primates, house pets, marine mammals, or amphibians in the city of Zootopia. However, in an official art concept for Zootopia 2, many groups of animals mentioned in those categories above, including snakes, seals, walruses, and chameleons, will be making their introduction.^[8]^[9]
- Reptiles have been confirmed to be sapient in the world of Zootopia, with a lot of them dwelling in the segregated district of Marsh Market alongside amphibious and aquatic mammals such as walruses, dolphins, sea lions, seals, etc. Though it remains unconfirmed if the reptiles live in a district or potential city of their own outside of Zootopia.
  - Particularly, a seclusive reptile population live in an abandoned shipwreck in Marsh Market at the Reptile Hangout.
According to the filmmakers, the carnivore citizens do not eat other mammals. Instead, they maintain a diet of fish, plant protein and insects, since fish and bugs are not sapient.^[14]^[15]^[16] The city also has a fast-food restaurant chain named Bug-Burga, which caters insect-based cuisine for this need (and presumably also sells fish burgers). There is also a fish market.
Zootopia's currency features deer on dollar bills (a pun on the word "buck" being a homonym-another word for "dollar" and the name for a male deer).
It's unknown what continent and country Zootopia is located on.
In early drafts, the city was home to an illegal amusement park called "Wild Times", which was owned and operated by Nick Wilde. Though the park was scrapped from the film, it was later legitimized with an alternate background in the sequel book, The Stinky Cheese Caper.
In one of the deleted scenes, when Judy looks at Emmitt's information, one of his credentials includes the United States flag in the bottom right corner.
According to Jared Bush, Zootopia is one city on one continent on one planet full of animals of all kinds.