The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens Intro to The Living Desert

Arizona Docent

Arizona Docent

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
A desert wildlife zoo and botanical park in Palm Desert/Indian Wells (Palm Springs area), California. For trivia fans, the fact that the boundary of Palm Desert and Indian Wells runs through the middle makes it the only zoo in the U.S. to lie within two different cities!

Best exhibit is Eagle Canyon, which will remind you of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Difference is they compare animals of North American deserts and African deserts from similar habitats. So bobcat and caracal are next to each other as are kit fox (or is it swift fox?) and fennec fox. Puma exhibit is one of the best anywhere, but their african counterparts (leopards) are surprisingly not next to them, but in a different part of the park. Also mexican wolves, javelinas and badger from North America.

Small mammal cages in center of park (meerkats, sand cats, etc) are way too small and need to be replaced. But overall, a very good facility and unique in exhibiting only desert animals. Announced plans for lions and crocodiles a couple years ago, but nothing started yet (they will go next to the giraffe/ostrich savanna).

Another unique feature is that visitors are allowed inside the veterinary hospital (a nice facility opened a few years ago).

Please note there is another (smaller) facility in New Mexico for North American desert animals that has almost the same name, but is not affiliated with this one. It is called Living Desert State Park.
 
Arizona Docent said:
For trivia fans, the fact that the boundary of Palm Desert and Indian Wells runs through the middle makes it the only zoo in the U.S. to lie within two different cities!
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The Phoenix Zoo's front gate is in Phoenix, but it's back gate is in Tempe.
 
Followup to jaguar post.

I thought it was odd (though I am not complaining) that they are about to open a jaguar exhibit that was never announced before, while their lion exhibit has been in the plans for a decade or more and still has not been started. Now I think I know why. Their new director is the jaguar ssp coordinator. He is also vice-chair of the bear tag, so it will be interesting to see if they add any bears to the zoo. (Probably hard to fit those into their desert theme).

Zoo touts its latest addition: New chief - Entertainment
 
Arizona Docent said:
Followup to jaguar post.

I thought it was odd (though I am not complaining) that they are about to open a jaguar exhibit that was never announced before, while their lion exhibit has been in the plans for a decade or more and still has not been started. Now I think I know why. Their new director is the jaguar ssp coordinator. He is also vice-chair of the bear tag, so it will be interesting to see if they add any bears to the zoo. (Probably hard to fit those into their desert theme).

Zoo touts its latest addition: New chief - Entertainment
Click to expand...

That sounds like good news for the Palm Desert Zoo. Though the proposed and East Africa exhibits and (i think this was mentioned?) Australian exhibits would also bring the zoo forward.

Though for clarification, from the article is says: "Prior to joining the Penn-sylvania zoo, he was curator of Texas Wild at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth."

Does this mean he was in charge of the project?

Also, as for bears, Sloth bears, Black bears, and Spectacled bears are probably the most arid-tolerant due to the conditions they live in in the wild, though they aren't desert bears.
 
I had the pleasure of going on a private guided tour of Living Desert not long ago.

Some inside information I recieved was that the cost of the Lion-related expansion (which is more than $6 million and will include exhibits for more than just lions) was behind schedule and that it was taking time to gather the funds.

The Jaguar exhibit would not be located too far from their carousel either, and would probably help draw more guests into that area.
 
Otter Lord said:
That sounds like good news for the Palm Desert Zoo. Though the proposed and East Africa exhibits and (i think this was mentioned?) Australian exhibits would also bring the zoo forward.

Though for clarification, from the article is says: "Prior to joining the Penn-sylvania zoo, he was curator of Texas Wild at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth."

Does this mean he was in charge of the project?

Also, as for bears, Sloth bears, Black bears, and Spectacled bears are probably the most arid-tolerant due to the conditions they live in in the wild, though they aren't desert bears.
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I believe that means he was in charge of that area of the zoo as a curator. Some zoos assign their curators by taxonomic Class, others by region of the zoo.
 
Wow April 1 seems rather close, does anyone know where this exhibit will be in the zoo? Possibly by the NA section and Coatis?
 
Otter Lord said:
Wow April 1 seems rather close, does anyone know where this exhibit will be in the zoo? Possibly by the NA section and Coatis?
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Yes, I believe that is the area. It is part of the existing sonoran desert garden, which I believe is near the coatis. That is a big area with no large animal habitats, so it will make a nice addition as something major to see on the way to Eagle Canyon.

I am tentatively planning to go out for Memorial Day (which is end of May for our overseas friends). Expect lots of photos (well, I will try to keep it reasonable) and a full report from ZooChat's resident cat lover.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Yes, I believe that is the area. It is part of the existing sonoran desert garden, which I believe is near the coatis. That is a big area with no large animal habitats, so it will make a nice addition as something major to see on the way to Eagle Canyon.

I am tentatively planning to go out for Memorial Day (which is end of May for our overseas friends). Expect lots of photos (well, I will try to keep it reasonable) and a full report from ZooChat's resident cat lover.
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Thanks, I really cannot wait for those photos. The Living Desert is a great zoo and I'll have to find time to revisit again some day.
 
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