San Diego Zoo
Balboa Park
The San Diego Zoo, located in Balboa Park, is home to over 3,700 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies.
The SD Experience
The San Diego Zoo was a pioneer in the concept of open-air, cageless exhibits that re-create natural animal habitats. It was one of the few zoos in the world that housed, and successfully breeder the giant panda. The pandas were on loan from China and as part of the agreement, went back to Asia in April 2019 and now have returned as of July 2024. In 2013, the zoo added a new Koalafornia Adventure exhibit, providing an updated Australian animal experience. Another new exhibit, called Africa Rocks, opened in 2017.
The zoo offers a guided double decker tour bus that traverses 75% of the park. I recommend taking the tour when you first arrive and then going back to see the exhibits you liked best up close on your own afterward. There is an overhead gondola lift called the Skyfari, providing an aerial view of the zoo. The zoo is rather hilly, so I like to take the the Skyfari up the hill to see the polar bears and then walk downhill to see the elephants and visit the Africa Rocks exhibit.
Exhibits are often designed around a particular habitat. The same exhibit features many different animals that can be found side-by-side in the wild, along with native plant life. Exhibits range from an African rain forest (featuring gorillas) to the Arctic taiga and tundra in the summertime (featuring polar bears). Some of the largest free-flight aviaries in existence are here. Many exhibits are "natural" with invisible wires and darkened blinds (to view birds), and pools and open-air moats (for large mammals).
The temperate, sunny maritime climate is well suited to many plants and animals. Besides an extensive collection of birds, reptiles, and mammals, it also maintains its grounds as an arboretum, with a rare plant collection. The botanical collection includes more than 700,000 exotic plants. As part of its gardening effort, it raises some rare animal foods. For example, the zoo raises 40 varieties of bamboo for the pandas on long-term loan from China, and it maintains 18 varieties of eucalyptus trees to feed its koalas.
History
The San Diego Zoo grew out of exotic animal exhibitions abandoned after the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. A permanent tract of land in Balboa Park was set aside in August 1921; on the advice of the city attorney, it was agreed that the city would own all the animals and the zoo would manage them. The zoo began to move in the following year. In addition to the animals from the Exposition, the zoo acquired a menagerie from the defunct Wonderland Amusement Park. Ellen Browning Scripps financed a fence around the zoo so that it could begin charging an entrance fee to offset costs.