San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo News 2012

Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
This is good news. 'Bai Yun' arrived in 1996 and has had six cubs including this new one. Every single cub born apart from 'Hua Mei' is the offspring of 'Bao 'Bao'. Bao Bao arrived about nine years ago and is a wild caught specimen, I expect that 'Yun Zi' will be moved back to China in the next year or two unless he already has.
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Yun Zi is still in San Diego and will be 3 years old on August 5th. He weighs more than his Dad, Gao Gao.
 
Have all six of her cubs survived? Either way it's awesome news.

And all of a sudden I have an urge to visit the zoo now. I've never been. It's out of the way during traveling times, and admission is a bit pricey. Winning a zoo ticket would be awesome.
 
DeydraOZ said:
And all of a sudden I have an urge to visit the zoo now. I've never been. It's out of the way during traveling times, and admission is a bit pricey. Winning a zoo ticket would be awesome.
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At least you're closer to the zoo than me. When I go to San Diego one day, I'll probably just make it a trip all around California, and possibly more of the West Coast.
 
DeydraOZ said:
Have all six of her cubs survived? Either way it's awesome news.

And all of a sudden I have an urge to visit the zoo now. I've never been. It's out of the way during traveling times, and admission is a bit pricey. Winning a zoo ticket would be awesome.
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Yes, all six have survived. Let me know if you ever make it to San Diego. I get 4 free passes a year with my membership. :)
 
Panda looks so nice and it is how other animals a wonderful creation.1600 are not many of them and do you think the zoos can help them to survive?

esther
 
I tried to walk the entire zoo yesterday. I believe I saw all of the exhibits except the birds next to the line for the bus ride. I tried not to back track if I could avoid it. The distance was 5.66 miles, it took me 4 hours and 45 minutes. Of course I did not spend a lot of time at each exhibit (this time). Ascent 2113 feet, descent 2123 feet. If you want to see the route I took here is the link. Runmeter-Walk-20121001-0927.kml - Google Maps
 
betsy said:
Yun Zi is still in San Diego and will be 3 years old on August 5th. He weighs more than his Dad, Gao Gao.
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Do you know if they're any plans to move 'Yun Zi' back to China? I believe the normal plan is for the cub to reach three years old and then be moved back to China.
 
Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
Do you know if they're any plans to move 'Yun Zi' back to China? I believe the normal plan is for the cub to reach three years old and then be moved back to China.
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I talked to an educator today and she said no paperwork has been started to send him back to China yet. If I hear anything definite I will post it.
 
The female Amur leopard has been separated from her brothers. She is now housed behind the black jaguar, Orson. It looks like we will be keeping the males and the female will be shipped to another zoo. No news on where or when she will be leaving but she will no longer be on exhibit.
 
Zoo Reviving Park Promenade Parking Plan

The San Diego Zoo is once again looking to build a parking garage and expand the zoo out into the current lot.

Zoo reviving $200 million paid parking plan | UTSanDiego.com

The San Diego Zoo is reviving a long-dormant plan to build a 4,800-space underground parking garage to relieve a persistent parking problem in Balboa Park.
The plan, which would replace the zoo's free lot with paid parking, was approved in 2004 by the City Council but never implemented.
Details of the proposal, expected to cost about $200 million, were shared last week with board members of the Balboa Park Conservancy and the U-T.
Zoo President Rick Gulley said that the push for more parking comes from a simple fact: On 100 days a year, the zoo's present 2,500-space surface lot is full.
"I don't want the guy in El Cajon to say he hasn't come to Balboa Park in a year because he couldn't find a place to park," Gulley said.
Earlier this year the council approved the $45 million Plaza de Panama plan for removing cars and parking from the center of the park. It includes a 797-space parking garage south of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion but nets only 260 more spaces because of those that will give way to pedestrian-only open space.
"It didn't solve Balboa Park's ultimate problem, which is parking," Gulley said.
The zoo spent $4 million on the Park Boulevard Promenade Plan and has been reminding civic leaders of its details over the last four months. They include:

  • Replacing the zoo's lot with a four-level, 4,800-space underground garage stretching from Zoo Place to the Natural History Museum.
  • Building a pedestrian mall on top of the garage that directly links the zoo to the museums along El Prado.
  • Expanding the zoo onto its parking lot with $100 million or more in new animal exhibits and attractions.
  • Relocating the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad on a narrow route along Park Boulevard and the Balboa Park Carousel slightly south of its present site to make way for a new zoo entrance plaza.
Parking puzzle in the park

The parking matrix in the park works out this way:

  • 6,586 free spaces currently are available in the central mesa west of Florida Canyon.
  • 797 spaces would be built in an underground garage south of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion and an a net 260 spaces after converting present streets and lots for pedestrian space.
  • 4,800 spaces would be built in the promenade garage, adding a new 2,300 spaces after closing down the existing zoo lot.
  • 600 spaces would be added for zoo employees elsewhere in the park at a location not yet selected but called for as a way to free up spaces for visitors.

The promenade plan was folded into a much larger $300 million parking and transportation plan, also in 2004, that would have added more garages and completed some long-delayed park infrastructure projects.
But both plans sat on the shelf, victims of the city's pension and budget problems and then the recession.
Now, with the city budget stabilized, the economy slowly improving and construction costs and interest rates at low levels, the promenade plan is back on the front burner.
"Really good ideas don't die," said David Rice, the zoo's director of architecture and planning. "I think this is a really good idea that's getting legs again."
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Parking plan is good and is definitely needed. What is also needed is more public transit (of which I am a huge proponent). It would be ideal if the excellent light rail that runs through downtown could have a spur built up to Balboa Park. At the very least they need more buses in the summer. I was leaving the zoo one summer day, a lot of other tourists were standing at the bus stop with me, and the bus was so full he did not even pick anyone up - just stopped short before us to let a few people off. I ended up walking back downtown to the trolley stop and another family ended up grabbing a cab because they needed to get to the airport.
 
Can anyone post any pictures of how the Australian Outback exhibit is coming on. Thanks
 
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