No, Donkey Kong is not a donkey; he is a large, powerful gorilla, and his name was intended by creator Shigeru Miyamoto to mean "Stupid Ape" or "Stubborn Ape" for American audiences, using "donkey" to imply foolishness or stubbornness, not the animal itself.
Donkey Kong, also known as DK, is a male gorilla. The first character named Donkey Kong is introduced in the original 1981 arcade game as the computer-controlled antagonist who abducts Pauline. The player must take the role of Mario and rescue her. Donkey Kong is held captive by Mario in Donkey Kong Jr.
The creator of the character wanted a stubborn animal, plus a monkey reference. "Stubborn as a mule"(Donkey) + King Kong = Donkey Kong. Stubborn monkey. :p. It was supposed to be Monkey Kong, but something got lost in translation and the name stuck.
Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the Kong family of apes.
A Kong is a unique anthropomorphic species consisting of various different primates resembling either apes (i.e. gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, or gibbons), or monkeys (such as spider monkeys or baboons).
Although Donkey Kong was introduced as an antagonist, he is not evil. Nintendo World Report's Pedro Hernandez wrote that, unlike the Mario villains Bowser and Wario, Donkey Kong's villainous acts are the result of jealous temper tantrums rather than malice. He is stubborn, buffoonish, and innocent.
King Kong (キングコング, Kingu Kongu?), also dubbed Titanus Kong or simply Kong, is one of the two main protagonists (alongside Godzilla) of the MonsterVerse, and a giant great ape Titan created by Legendary Pictures who first appeared in the 2017 film, Kong: Skull Island.
Cranky Kong (a.k.a. the OG Donkey Kong from the arcades) is DK Jr.'s father. DK Jr. is the father of DK the 3rd (the modern day DK with the tie, not to be confused with the game Donkey Kong 3, which starred Cranky Kong and Bugman Stanley), which makes Cranky Kong the grandfather of the modern DK!
Donkey Kong is a gorrila which is an ape and Diddy Kong has a tail so he's a monkey. Diddy is supposedly Donkey Kong's nephew but since ape's and monkey's DNA are too dissimilar they can't produce offspring.
Because Shigeru Miyamoto's English at the time was very limited so he used a pocket dictionary to find a word for stubborn. Originally he wanted to name him monkey kong but he decided on Donkey because in the pocket dictionary it contained the euphemism, “stubborn like a donkey”.
Donkey Kong first received voice acting in the 1998 computer-animated Donkey Kong Country television series, where he was portrayed by Richard Yearwood. Donkey Kong next received voice acting in Donkey Kong 64, where he was portrayed by Grant Kirkhope, a composer for Rare Ltd.
Maybe there aren't two Donkey Kong's, but three. Cranky Kong is the Donkey Kong from the original game, Donkey Kong J. is the Donkey Kong from DK64 and DK Bananza, and Donkey Kong III is the Donkey Kong from Mario vs Donkey Kong 2, Donkey Kong Country, and any other games where he's explicitly Cranky's grandson.
Letters spelling out K-O-N-G are hidden throughout each level. You can unlock a secret level in each world when you collect all the KONG letters in all levels of that world.
The name Diddy was used due to it similarly meaning 'small'. The name "Dinky Kong" would later be used as Kiddy Kong's name in Japanese releases of the series. In 2025, Diddy Kong received a slight redesign, giving him teeth, a rounder belly, and a cap with a DD pin instead of the Nintendo logo.
200% Completion Reward: if you beat the main game (World 9-9 on 3DS and Switch, or World 9-1 in the Wii version) and collect every KONG letter and puzzle piece and then do the same thing in Mirror Mode (trackable via column 5), you'll unlock Tap to Reveal.
Donkey Kong (or DK or just Donkey for short or full title Donkey Kong III) is the main protagonist of the Donkey Kong series. He is the carefree, lazy, dumb, yet trustworthy hero of Donkey Kong Island. He is also in the Mario Kart Series.
THE VERDICT: Godzilla wins
No matter how strong or good at using tools you are, you're in danger of being fried or tail-slapped to death even when at reasonable distance. It just has to be Godzilla. Sorry, Kong.
The game ends when all lives are lost. Each of the four single-screen stages represents 25 meters of the structure Donkey Kong has climbed: 25, 50, 75, and 100 meters.
In his first appearance in King Kong (1933), Kong was a gigantic prehistoric ape. While gorilla-like in appearance, he had a vaguely humanoid look and at times walked upright in an anthropomorphic manner. Like most simians, Kong possesses semi-human intelligence and great physical strength.
Kongs can probably live for hundreds or maybe thousands of years but not millions like some of the the ancient Titans. Kongs species lived in family groups and lived and reproduced like most other animals which leads me to believe they don't live quite as long.
He ate crocodiles in King Kong lives, are a squid in Kong Skull Island, ate some fish plus a Warbat in Godzilla vs. Kong and ate a grass hedgehog in the Skull Island show. So at least the de laurentis and Monsterverse Kong's are carnivorous.