APE EXPERT GIVES THUMBS DOWN TO NEW `TARZAN'

APE EXPERT GIVES THUMBS DOWN TO NEW `TARZAN'

LEWISBERG, Penn. (Wireless Flash) -- An animal expert is giving the new "Tarzan" movie a "thumbs down" as far as accuracy. The Disney flick tells the story of a gorilla who raises a human baby -- but according to an animal behavior expert, a wolf, not a gorilla, is more likely to adopt a human baby abandoned in the wild. Professor Douglas Candland of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania says wolves have a "pack mentality" that's closer to human social structure than the more solitary apes. It's also highly unlikely baby Tarzan could have survived if he were adopted by a gorilla because mother apes will never breast feed a baby that isn't hers. Regardless of whether Tarzan was raised by apes or wolves, Candland doubts the jungle man would have the muscleman physique portrayed in the new Disney flick. A baby raised in the wild would tend to be thinner and shorter than average, with a hunched over back and a tendency to walk on all fours. "Walt Disney's Tarzan" opens tomorrow (June 18).

CONTACT: Douglas Candland, ***1/2; Lewisberg, PA; (570) 524-1200