No matter what time of year, a trip to the San Diego Zoo is a treat for the whole family. Open in the winter, the Zoo is a little north of Downtown San Diego and easily accessible by road from the north, south and east or by public transportation, and has Discounted Parking too. If you will be staying at one of the hotels near the San Diego Zoo, don’t miss your chance to see the wide variety of animals that can be found there!
Everyone’s favorite animals are in their naturalistic enclosures in the zoo. There are more than three thousand seven hundred animals of six hundred and fifty species in a park of more than one hundred acres. Most people find the animals more active in the mornings, and the environments have been created to replicate their natural homes as accurately as possible. Visitors can plan their own routes around the park, choosing to see whichever animals are the family favorites or walking the long lap of the whole area. Alternatively, the specially guided bus tour covers an area of around three quarters of the park, or there is the SkyFari gondola lift for an aerial view.
Each area of the park has its own inhabitants. Monkey Trails and Forest Tales houses the monkeys and other animals who in the wild would live in the African and Asian rainforests. Guenons, mandrills and mangabeys live alongside yellow-backed duikers, slender-snouted crocodiles, pygmy hippos, turtles and fish who can be seen through underwater viewing areas. A large number of reptiles also live in this area. Elsewhere, two stunning aviaries house more than 45 species of birds, with lories, Bali mynah, woodpeckers, kingfishers and jacanas in the Owens Aviary and tinkerbirds, sociable weavers and the amethyst starling in the Scripps Aviary.
Perhaps one of the most famous areas of San Diego Zoo, the Panda Trek is home to one of only four displays of giant pandas in the world. The breeding program at the zoo is also the most successful anywhere, with six cubs being born to date. The most recent birth, in July 2012, brought ‘Xiao Liwu’ into the world and he forms part of the global program of education in which the San Diego Zoo plays a key role. A red panda, Sichuan takins and Mangshan pitvipers also live in the Panda Trek area.
The new Koalifornia area, imitating the Australian Outback, has been open for less than twelve months but has already proven to be incredibly popular. Home to the largest population of koala outside Australia, it also houses wombats, wallabies and kookaburra, as well as the only exhibit of Tasmanian devil to live in the United States.