San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo News 2025

I thought Mawe had a tight looking belly, she's in the maternity ward as of today, this wasn't here Monday!!

Still trying to figure out the family tree to Lemayian, as a half sister from a different Mister (her dad is Fred, his dad is Chifu, her baby's dad is Chifu).... 20251105_164122.jpg
 

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A few updates from @RJB Wildlife:
  • The aviary in Polar Bear Plunge has been re-stocked. So looks like it will remain, at least for the meantime. It seems the Polar Bear Plunge reno has just been reduced to replacing one of the smaller areas with a new educational area.
  • The new redevelopment of Urban Jungle/Bear Grottoes/Sun Bear Forest is seemingly the next redevelopment for the zoo. It's expected that changes in preparation for this will begin at the end of next year.
  • It's looking like Vus'Musi the bull African Elephant may return to the Safari Park early next year - although the move hasn't been specifically confirmed yet.
  • There's also been a Mishmi Takin calf recently born. It can be viewed adjacent to Skyfari West.

 
Jambo said:
A few updates from @RJB Wildlife:
  • The aviary in Polar Bear Plunge has been re-stocked. So looks like it will remain, at least for the meantime. It seems the Polar Bear Plunge reno has just been reduced to replacing one of the smaller areas with a new educational area.
  • The new redevelopment of Urban Jungle/Bear Grottoes/Sun Bear Forest is seemingly the next redevelopment for the zoo. It's expected that changes in preparation for this will begin at the end of next year.
  • It's looking like Vus'Musi the bull African Elephant may return to the Safari Park early next year - although the move hasn't been specifically confirmed yet.
  • There's also been a Mishmi Takin calf recently born. It can be viewed adjacent to Skyfari West.

Click to expand...
It seems they're doing the whole Urban Jungle/Bear Grottoes/Sun Bear Forest Area.
 
Any ideas what will happen to the Giraffes, Andean Bears, and Grizzlies if the new expansion is going to primarily focus on Asia? It seems kind of crazy for the zoo to not have any Giraffes since first bringing Lofty and Patches over in 1938. The Andeans will also be sad to lose considering how well the zoo has done with breeding them.
 
bkfireshark said:
Any ideas what will happen to the Giraffes, Andean Bears, and Grizzlies if the new expansion is going to primarily focus on Asia? It seems kind of crazy for the zoo to not have any Giraffes since first bringing Lofty and Patches over in 1938. The Andeans will also be sad to lose considering how well the zoo has done with breeding them.
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Maybe the Giraffes will remain where they are with the area turned into an African Savanah section with the antelopes and zebras that live near the polar bears moved there to adjacent Africa Rocks and the Spectacled and Grizzly Bears could move up near where the Polar Bears live and that section would be dedicated to animals native to the Americas?
 
It has been announced that the zoo’s oldest Galapagos tortoise (0.1) “Gramma” has passed away from ongoing age-related bone conditions. Her age was estimated to be anywhere from 120 to 141 years.
San Diego Zoo on Instagram: "For over a century, Gramma the Galápagos tortoise has been a quiet and constant presence at the Zoo, a witness to history, a beloved icon, and an extraordinary ambassador for her species. It is with immense sadness that we share her passing on November 20. Gramma’s dedicated wildlife care specialists and her expert health team had been closely monitoring her ongoing bone conditions related to advanced age, and as these conditions recently progressed, they made the compassionate and exceptionally difficult decision to say goodbye. Gramma’s storied legacy at the Zoo spans nearly the entire history of the institution itself. She arrived between 1928–1931 as part of the first group of Galápagos tortoises to come to the Zoo. Born in her native habitat, her exact birth date remains unknown, though experts estimate she may have reached the incredible age of 141 years, which would have made her the oldest individual thriving at the Zoo. It is astonishing to consider what Gramma lived through in her lifetime. While enjoying sunshine, endless herbivorous snacks, and puddles in her habitats throughout Reptile Mesa, this sweet, shy tortoise observed the Zoo’s creation and evolution. As the world around her experienced more than 20 U.S. presidents, two World Wars, and two pandemics, she gently touched countless lives over nearly a century in San Diego as an ambassador for reptile conservation worldwide. Her story has become woven into the very fabric of the Zoo community, a thread connecting generations of team members, guests, volunteers, and conservationists. Through decades of technological advancement, she went from appearing in a handful of black-and-white photographs to becoming an ever-endearing social media star. Her care specialists affectionately called her “the Queen of the Zoo,” and she truly was. Caring for such a remarkable tortoise was a privilege. Gramma’s devoted care team shared that she particularly loved romaine lettuce and cactus fruit. In her memory, we invite you to enjoy a generous, fruit-filled salad, a special tribute for a very special tortoise."
 
Three Fossa pups have been born:

Trio of fossa pups born at the San Diego Zoo

The zoo announced Wednesday morning that the pups, brothers Isalo and Fiaro, and their sister Volana, are the first to be born at the zoo since 2017.

The pups were born to mother Kintana and father Charlie in July, but after spending several months in their den, they’re now venturing into the Africa Rocks exhibit.
 
I had my first proper visit to the Zoo in a couple of months today, and I am back with some updates! With the Zoo closing at 4:00pm and me not arriving until noon, I did not end up visiting most of the Lost Forest.

Wildlife Explorers Basecamp:
  • Cool Critters:
  • The Cuvier's dwarf caiman and yellow-spotted Amazon river turtles have moved across the building to where the West African dwarf crocodile used to be.
  • The South American paludarium is now home to a green basilisk and freshwater angelfish.
  • The former West African lungfish paludarium is now signed for Australian lungish; however, I did not see any.
  • The sunburst diving beetles are back on exhibit.
  • The former caiman/turtle exhibit is now home to juvenile striped tigerfish and some African cichlids.
  • Upstairs there are now arboreal alligator lizards in the second terrarium along the wall across from the ambassador window. The last tank in that row is now empty.
  • Rainforest:
  • The first netted ambassador exhibit is empty, the pair of caracals is sharing the middle exhibit, and a South American coati is now in the last one.
  • Spineless Marvels:
  • The Asian giant toads are back off exhibit again after taking up residence in the former coconut crab exhibit.

Reptile Mesa:
  • Reptile House:
  • The timber rattlesnake has moved to the backside of the Reptile House next to the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. Its former exhibit is now home to a pair of rhinoceros vipers (Bitis nasicornis).
  • The ridge-nosed rattlesnake terrarium is empty.
  • Reptile Walk:
  • The Philippine sailfin lizard is now in the first Roti Island snake-necked turtle paludarium in the Turtle House.
  • Four Burmese star tortoises have been introduced to the Burmese mountain tortoise exhibit.

Urban Jungle:
  • A second Soemmerring's gazelle calf has been born!
  • The cage on the right side of the cluster of cages in Urban Jungle is currently being refurbished. The laughing kookaburra that was living in that cage has been moved into the old banded palm civet cage adjacent to the greater one-horned rhinoceros barn.

Australian Outback:
  • The Zoo has received a new parma wallaby that is now on exhibit with the female koalas.

Africa Rocks:
  • The second Hamadryas baboon exhibit is still empty.
  • The penguins finally have access to the deep portion of their pool again, alongside the white-breasted cormorants!
Lower Waterfowl Ponds:
  • The last ashy-headed goose is being shipped out. It is already off-exhibit.

Horn and Hoof Mesa:
  • The blue duiker is no longer signed with the gerenuk.

Elephant Odyssey:
  • The male Baird's tapir has been moved behind-the-scenes.

Asian Passage:
  • The former waterfowl/penguin/otter exhibit on Bear Hill is empty now that the waterfowl has returned to the Tundra Aviary.
  • The site of the former corncrib cages is now home to a Madagascar garden.

Lost Forest:
  • The Parker Aviary is closed currently.
  • The pygmy spiny-tailed skinks have moved into the Kimberly rock monitor exhibit, and the Kimberly rock monitors have moved into the former girdled/armadillo lizard exhibit. The former skink exhibit is empty.
 
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Kudu21 said:
  • The penguins finally have access to the deep portion of their pool again, alongside the white-breasted cormorants!
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Do they still have Opaleye/Rudderfish and Atlantic Spadefish on display?

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Think I might have gotten the species wrong (apologies for that!) Photo taken last November, though the penguins still had no access to this area iirc.
 

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Kudu21 said:
I had my first proper visit to the Zoo in a couple of months today, and I am back with some updates! With the Zoo closing at 4:00pm and me not arriving until noon, I did not end up visiting most of the Lost Forest.
  • The ridge-nosed rattlesnake terrarium is empty.
Click to expand...

Is this the Del Nido Ridge-nosed Rattlesnakes?
 
Haybale said:
I thought Mawe had a tight looking belly, she's in the maternity ward as of today, this wasn't here Monday!!

Still trying to figure out the family tree to Lemayian, as a half sister from a different Mister (her dad is Fred, his dad is Chifu, her baby's dad is Chifu).... View attachment 839909
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Correction to this, Fred is unrelated, he was born at Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2013 and moved to San Diego about a year or so later and left in 2021. Fred overlapped with Silver (Chifu's dad), who died of old age in 2016. Chifu moved to and from Sacramento 12 years apart.
 
Are the Bitis cornuta imported from Göteborg back in 2024 on display in the reptile house currently? I saw they were on the species by @Coelacanth18 earlier this year. Very cool species!
 
Coelacanth18 said:
For the second time now :p I guess mixing penguins with live fish is harder than was anticipated?
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Indeed :p Perhaps it should not be so terribly surprising... As beyond just being natural predators of fish, penguins do tend to just be pesky little things. It does not surprise that they would harass even large fish...

Iguana_Cabana said:
Is the Fijian crested iguana still in Cool Critters?
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Yes. The Brachylophus specimen on display in Cool Critters is, indeed, the B. vitiensis specimen.

CMP said:
Are the Bitis cornuta imported from Göteborg back in 2024 on display in the reptile house currently? I saw they were on the species by @Coelacanth18 earlier this year. Very cool species!
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There is, indeed, one Bitis cornuta on display in the Reptile House currently. It is not signed, but it is in the terrarium between the former Boelen's python and current puff adder terrariums on the right side of the Reptile House if you are looking at it from the front.
 
Mawe had her calf today!! I'll hopefully see him/her tomorrow!

Nile Hippo Expert said:
Correction to this, Fred is unrelated, he was born at Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2013 and moved to San Diego about a year or so later and left in 2021. Fred overlapped with Silver (Chifu's dad), who died of old age in 2016. Chifu moved to and from Sacramento 12 years apart.
Click to expand...

Fred fathered Eleanor (1/30/21) with Harriet, and Mawe (11/29/21) with Saba.

Fred left before they were born.

Was there another male there to father Mawe?
 
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