The Living Desert

The Living Desert is a 1953 nature documentary showing the everyday lives of the animals of the desert of the southwestern United States. The movie was written by James Algar, Winston Hibler, Jack Moffitt (uncredited), and Ted Sears. It was directed by Algar and produced by Walt Disney Productions. Hibler is the narrator.
It won the first Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature. In 2000 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was released on video in 1986 and then 1993.
==Production==
The Living Desert was put into production after Walt Disney was presented with footage of the life-cycle of the tarantula hawk, a desert wasp that attacks tarantulas to lay their eggs inside their bodies. The dramatic footage inspired Disney to produce a full desert wildlife film, with much of the production being shot outside Tucson, Arizona, around Saguaro National Park and what is now Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Many animals that were featured in the film, but not in the Desert Museum's living collections, were donated by Disney to them after production wrapped.https://tucson.com/news/blogs/morgue-tales/tales-from-the-morgue-desert-museum-s-first-year-a/article_8b1336de-b7d1-11df-a1d2-001cc4c03286.html
==International release==
Country	Title 	Distributor	Date of release
Japan 	砂漠は生きている 	Daiei Film 	January 14, 1955
==Cast==
*Winston Hibler - Narrator
==Trivia==
*The film's copyright was renewed on May 11, 1981.Online Copyright Catalog search (form autofilled, pressing "begin search" brings up the entry)
*The Living Desert is one of the four True-Life Adventures films to influence the content of Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland and its eventual successor Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
==Gallery==
Living Desert.png
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The living desert lobby card.jpg
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Living desert 1964 rerelease poster.jpg|Poster from a re-release in 1964, paired with a re-release of Bear Country
El desierto viviente (2).jpg|Poster from the release in Argentina in 1954
Living desert australian poster.jpg|Poster from the release in Australia in 1954
Living desert belgian poster.jpg|Poster from the release in Belgium (1950s)
Living desert finnish poster.jpg|Poster from the release in Finland on February 4, 1955
Living desert french poster.jpg|Poster from the release in France on September 8, 1954
Living desert german poster.jpg|Poster from the release in Germany in 1954
Living desert japanese poster.jpg|Poster from the release in Japan on January 14, 1955
El-desierto-viviente-img-103393-1-.jpg|Lobby card from the release in Mexico (1950s)
El desierto viviente (1).jpg|Poster from the release in Spain on September 16, 1955
Living desert swedish poster.jpg|Poster from the release in Sweden on October 6, 1954
Living desert uk poster original.jpg|Poster from the original release in the United Kingdom on May 14, 1954
Million dollar duck living desert uk poster.jpg|Poster from the re-release in the United Kingdom on August 8, 1971, on a double bill with The Million Dollar Duck
Living desert yugoslavian poster.jpg|Poster from the release in Yugoslavia (year unknown)
File:P lipinski zyjaca pustynia.jpg|Poster from the release in Poland in 1961
==References==
==External links==
*The Living Desert at the Internet Movie Database
Category:1953 films
Category:Documentaries
Category:Live-action films
Category:True-Life Adventures
Category:Saving Mr. Banks
Category:National Film Registry films
Category:Disney films
Category:Academy Award winning films
Category:G-rated films