Hello from Los Angeles!

Oddernod

Oddernod

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
I've been on these forums for a couple weeks but I just now happened to come across the new member intros. I'm an animator in LA who discovered the Los Angeles Zoo a year or so into my move here from Chicago. It's almost become my second home at this point — whenevere I get a chance to get away from work and the hours indoors staring at a computer I find myself heading over to Griffith Park.

One of my ways to clear my head is to get outdoors and get myself moving since my job is almost always long days at a desk. Whether it's going out with a sketchbook or a camera, the southern Californian zoos have been an excellent way to relax. So far I've made it out to the two SD parks, LA Zoo, and the Santa Barbara Zoo, but I'm looking for more if anyone's got suggestions!
 
Hi Oddernod, welcome to Zoochat and LA. There are several of us here from the LA region - mstickmanp, Blackduiker, ungulate nerd, myself - welcome to the herd. We've all gotten together and toured the zoo together, and would be fun to meet you and have you join the party.

The Living Desert in Palm Desert is a great zoo if you haven't been there - it's about 2.5 or 3 hours from LA. The Aquarium of the Pacific is a great aquarium as is the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, which focuses on the local ecosystems of Southern California. The California Science Center in Exposition Park has an ecosystem hall with a kelp forest, a desert area with several reptile species and pallid bats, and a "rot room" with maggots and other decomposers. The LA County Natural History Museum in the same park has fantastic dinosaur, bird, and mammal exhibits, including North America and Africa mammal halls full of dioramas.

Whenever you get a chance to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium it is one of the best aquariums in the world and sits right next to wild sea otters, harbor seals, grey whales, etc.

Just off the coast from you are the California Channel Islands. There are humpback whales and blue whales out there in the summer and grey whales in the winter and spring. Check out the Island Packers website if you are interested in whale watching or visiting the islands.
 
Hi and welcome to ZooChat Oddernod, we've conversed on the site several times but I appreciate the background information you've provided here. David Brown has already given excellent tips on other suggestions I had also wanted to point out, and yes, you've got to join us for an official LA area get together.

David and I are also planning a November outing to the very close to me, Gibbon Conservation Center, here in my hometown of Santa Clarita. And I'd like to extend the invitation to you, and all local and visiting ZooChatters to visit that facility with us as well. No exact date as of yet. November, due to the fact that from now through October, we experience extreme desert like heat and from my previous visit, the Gibbon Center provides very little shade covering or concessions.
 
Other facilities (not yet mentioned) include a wolf center near the Safari Park (I forget what it's called), the EFBC Feline Conservation Center in Rosamond (but photos are difficult), and California Living Museum in Bakersfield. My personal favorite is Cat Haven on the highway to Kings Canyon National Park, but that's partly because I know the owner and get special photo ops when I visit. Normally you have to go on a guided tour and photo ops are extremely limited.

In a year or two when the new Africa expansion opens, Fresno Chaffee Zoo may become the best zoo in California.
 
Arizona Docent, thanks for the additional places to check out — Cat Haven sounds particularly amazing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top