San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo News 2023

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About how many Philippine collared doves and Philippine metallic pigeons are at the San Diego Zoo? Is there any breeding or are they going to be phased-out?
 
I spent some time in Scripps Aviary during my visit yesterday, and learned the sad news that the female African Darter who resided there unfortunately has passed away. I know that she was a pretty special bird to many, as she was quite charismatic and enjoyed sunning herself in spots where you could get a great look at her, and I believe she was the only member of her species left in captivity.

On a happier note, I noticed a Malagasy Pond Heron that does not have any signage, and learned that he is one of four males residing in Scripps now.
 
I am due to visit San Diego Zoo for the first time in October, coming from the U.K we will just have a one day visit to the park, and any advice/ tips on visiting would be much appreciated. Apologies if this is not the best place to post this, I am relatively new to Zoochat, and wasn’t sure where to post. Thanks
 
Small Mammal Fan said:
I am due to visit San Diego Zoo for the first time in October, coming from the U.K we will just have a one day visit to the park, and any advice/ tips on visiting would be much appreciated. Apologies if this is not the best place to post this, I am relatively new to Zoochat, and wasn’t sure where to post. Thanks
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Perhaps it’s best if you tell us what your goal is of seeing during your visit :) there is quite a lot to see and traversing it can be a bit of challenge. I say this as someone who would go regularly, it can be overwhelming haha

One suggestion is its best to see the Basecamp right when it opens, it can get rather hectic later in the day and you will have the Cool Critters and Spineless Marvels building all to yourself basically.
 
Julio C Castro said:
Perhaps it’s best if you tell us what your goal is of seeing during your visit :) there is quite a lot to see and traversing it can be a bit of challenge. I say this as someone who would go regularly, it can be overwhelming haha

One suggestion is its best to see the Basecamp right when it opens, it can get rather hectic later in the day and you will have the Cool Critters and Spineless Marvels building all to yourself basically.
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Thank you! I am most interested in mammals, then birds, so probs won’t spend much time on looking at herbs or inverts unfortunately. However, plan to go to base camp first for hummingbirds mainly and the few mammals, then walk back to the bus tour. Then I can start agsin from scratch going to Tasmanian devils, and whichever direction is best after that. I was thinking of doing the large areas where the aviaries and primate areas later on as can rush past some of these species. My biggest priorities are bear canyon, Africa Rocks, Australia/outback, Elephant odyssey and Northern Frontier, but unsure on which loop of these areas to take that avoids steep inclines the most. Many thanks.
 
Small Mammal Fan said:
Thank you! I am most interested in mammals, then birds, so probs won’t spend much time on looking at herbs or inverts unfortunately. However, plan to go to base camp first for hummingbirds mainly and the few mammals, then walk back to the bus tour. Then I can start agsin from scratch going to Tasmanian devils, and whichever direction is best after that. I was thinking of doing the large areas where the aviaries and primate areas later on as can rush past some of these species. My biggest priorities are bear canyon, Africa Rocks, Australia/outback, Elephant odyssey and Northern Frontier, but unsure on which loop of these areas to take that avoids steep inclines the most. Many thanks.
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So based on what you said, I’d take this route: go through Australian Outback first, take the downhill path to Bear Canyon. You’ll reach the entrance to Africa Rocks, take it upwards. Once you’re by the Kopje area, walk left after passing the serval exhibit and you’ll reach the California Condor exhibit at the beginning of Elephant Odyssey. Once you reach the lion/Jaguar exhibits at the end of EO, you’ll reach Bashor bridge. But if you take the path towards the right, you’ll be able to walk downhill and see Northern Frontier without hiking the steep hills :p

Edit: made a very crude route on my phone with it beginning by the zoo entrance based on what you wanted and my suggested path for the exhibits you want to see :D
 

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Julio C Castro said:
So based on what you said, I’d take this route: go through Australian Outback first, take the downhill path to Bear Canyon. You’ll reach the entrance to Africa Rocks, take it upwards. Once you’re by the Kopje area, walk left after passing the serval exhibit and you’ll reach the California Condor exhibit at the beginning of Elephant Odyssey. Once you reach the lion/Jaguar exhibits at the end of EO, you’ll reach Bashor bridge. But if you take the path towards the right, you’ll be able to walk downhill and see Northern Frontier without hiking the steep hills :p
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thank you so much Julio! I had wondered if this route would be best, so thank you. Then from Northern Frontier including Horn and hood mesa, maned wolves, mountain lions, Polar bear plunge, go towards wrapping round to Asia passage (or whatever red panda/ leopard/ takin area is called) via eagle canyon and enter lost forest areas. Are Kangaroo buses running to tackle part of the walks?
Thanks so much.
 
Small Mammal Fan said:
thank you so much Julio! I had wondered if this route would be best, so thank you. Then from Northern Frontier including Horn and hood mesa, maned wolves, mountain lions, Polar bear plunge, go towards wrapping round to Asia passage (or whatever red panda/ leopard/ takin area is called) via eagle canyon and enter lost forest areas. Are Kangaroo buses running to tackle part of the walks?
Thanks so much.
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You’re most welcome! They do the perimeter of the zoo, some of the road isn’t accessible to guests via walking. But the stops are near the bottom of Raptor Aviary, end of EO, Australian Outback, and then Urban Jungle.
 
Thank you so much, that’s really helpful! I do plan to see Los Forest areas too, and Urban Jungle including Koala area but you have the majority of my routes planned I think. The main species I would like to see in Lost Forest are mandrill, and Malayan tapir and at least one of the big aviaries, maybe Scripps. Thanks.
 
It was announced Wednesday that the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is now officially a center of species survival, and is the first to focus on biodiversity banking by entering into a partnership with the IUNC Species Survival Commision!
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance joins global effort to preserve species diversity

Exciting news! San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is now a Center for Species Survival - the first to focus on biodiversity banking. This is in partnership... | By San Diego Zoo | Facebook
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
Sixteen other facilities around the world hold this title. Five other facilities are in North America (all in U.S), five in Europe, two each in South America and Asia, and one each in Africa and Oceania (Australia).
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What are the other five facilities in the United States that also hold the title?
 
I just wanted to post a BIG Thanks to all who gave me grear advice for my first visit to San Diego Zoo! We had a great day! We started at the base camp, and I was very happy to see the fennec foxes and Caracal. We queued for a long time for the bus tour, which I think was not really worth it but glad we did for our first ever visit. I wanted to see the Tasmanian devil, as in the U.K. we currently do not have any, but unfortunately, I was not successful. We missed the majority of Africa Rocks as we joined at the end by the hamadryas baboons and headed to the Kopjes. I hope we did not miss too much, but from my understanding, it was mainly Madagascar area, leopard cubs and the Acacia aviary, so a bit disappointing. We went through elephant odyssey, northern frontier, Asia passage, which were all great. Yet, we didn’t see a polar bear. We got completely lost in the Lost forest, and it took three different sets of directions from staff until we found our way out! We didn’t see many of the primates as it was later in the day and we very quickly walked through the Scripps aviary before it was locked. However, tiger trail was great and the gorillas too. We went to bear Canyon, koalas and urban jungle. Fortunately, we could stay until 9pm due to our visit coinciding with their Halloween event. Which meant we could have a night ride on skylark, and saw the mountain lions at the front of their enclosures! All in all, a great day, but I could have done with two! Thanks again all!
 
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