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John Millen

Hero of the Jungle
 Who is that swinging through the jungle with all the skill and agility of an ape? It's Tarzan, King of the Jungle. He is an adventurer, a hunter, the righter of wrongs and one of the world's most  long-lasting fictional characters and  heroes of popular culture.  
Tarzan first appeared in a magazine story by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912 and in a full-length book two years later. 
The first Tarzan novel was so popular that Burroughs wrote  25  more books about him. 
Tarzan  quickly moved over into films, onto radio and television and into his own series of comic books. 
Between 1918 and 2008,  89 Tarzan  movies were made,  including a Disney cartoon in 1999.  Still swinging
 The latest television  appearance for the King of the Jungle was in 2003.  A musical stage  version of the Disney film opened in New York in 2006 and played to a full theatre for  more than a year. 
Tarzan has his own video games on Wii, PS2 and Nintendo DS, with titles like  Tarzan Untamed and  Kingdom Hearts, bringing the King of the Jungle to a  new generation of fans. 
In 2006, one of the original Tarzan comics was sold  for  US$60,000. The success Tarzan has  accumulated over the years  makes him a pop culture superhero. Not bad for someone almost  100 years old.
 Who is Tarzan?
 Tarzan is the son of Lord and Lady Greystoke, who were stranded with their baby on the west coast of Africa  when their ship was  taken over by  sailors who rose up against their captain.  
After his parents died, the baby  was adopted by a  big family of apes,  who brought him up as one of their own. Tarzan's jungle upbringing teaches him skills far beyond those usually learned by a human child. The apes teach him how to climb, swing through the jungle at great speed and  wrestle with  animals. 
As he grows up, Tarzan  becomes  physically strong and  powerful.  He ends up as the leader of his  group of apes. 
 The law of the jungle
 Young Tarzan  learns  to communicate with the animals of the jungle.  
Some of  them become his friends - and some, his deadly enemies. The jungle is both a safe and a dangerous place for Tarzan.  
One day, Tarzan meets a young American woman named Jane Porter. She is also stranded in Africa. With humans back into his life, he is dragged into many exciting adventures where he must choose between the values of the jungle and human civilisation.   
 Tarzan's life is one long, exciting adventure.
 Tarzan fact file
 Change the highlighted word in each  sentence to make a  correct statement about Tarzan.  
 1 Most of Tarzan's adventures take place in the jungles of India.
 2 The original Tarzan story appeared in a poem.
 3 An English author created Tarzan.
 4 The character first appeared in print in 1920.
 5 When he was a teenager, his family was stranded on the coast of Africa.
 6 He was adopted by a tribe of lions and brought up in the jungle.
 7 He learned great mental skills from the apes.
 8 Tarzan is really the son of an English king.
Answers:
1. Africa, 2. magazine, 3. American, 4. 1912,  5. baby, 6. apes, 7. physical, 8. lord



Tarzan, King of the Apes