San Diego Zoo Safari Park San Diego Zoo Safari Park News 2024
- Thread starter Kudu21
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Nile Hippo Expert
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The chick has been named "Emaay". Gender is still unconfirmed atm.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park welcomes 250th California condor chick
A few questions for anybody in the know:
- Does anyone know if the Hidden Jungle Aviary will be closed anytime this spring? Last time I visited the park (May 2022) the birds were temporarily off-display so the building could showcase butterflies - wanted to check and see if that's an annual thing I should plan around.
- Ditto on the bat house - it was closed for reasons unknown to me in 2022, is it now open all the time?
- Is the "Rainforest Aviary" over by Hidden Jungle new? I don't remember it from my 2022 visit and there's no photos of it in the gallery I could find, so I'm wondering whether it's a new addition or if I missed it on my last visit.
- Does anyone know if the Hidden Jungle Aviary will be closed anytime this spring? Last time I visited the park (May 2022) the birds were temporarily off-display so the building could showcase butterflies - wanted to check and see if that's an annual thing I should plan around.
- Ditto on the bat house - it was closed for reasons unknown to me in 2022, is it now open all the time?
- Is the "Rainforest Aviary" over by Hidden Jungle new? I don't remember it from my 2022 visit and there's no photos of it in the gallery I could find, so I'm wondering whether it's a new addition or if I missed it on my last visit.
Bat house was open in January.
Are you talking about this aviary?
Funnily enough, I had no relocation of this prior to my most recent visit so maybe it is newer.
Hidden Jungle appeared to be closed most of last year aside from when they had done Butterfly Jungle and it appears to be open again as the event is going on. Hopefully it stays open beyond it as I’m going back soon
The Bat House has opened up again, seems to be fully operational as it has been before aside from the occasional closure for renovations.
The “new” Rainforest walkthrough aviary used to be the former Lorikeet Landing. I’ve done it before when they had lorikeets and you can do feedings with them when inside. Some bird species from Hidden Jungle had moved there when it was rebranded as the Rainforest aviary.
I don't know, I've never seen it
guessing that's probably it though.Hidden Jungle appeared to be closed most of last year aside from when they had done Butterfly Jungle and it appears to be open again as the event is going on. Hopefully it stays open beyond it as I’m going back soon
I see. Now that I know what it's called, I found the page for it on their website:
Butterfly Jungle
It runs from March 16 to May 12 this year... so indeed for most of spring. I'm not sure if they'd reopen the aviary with birds immediately after or if they'd need time to transition it back, though.
Annoyingly the website's current map doesn't note this event taking over the aviary... caught me by surprise last time too
Nile Hippo Expert
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Eight of the safari park's Addax have moved to the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park in Missouri as reported on the St. Louis Zoo's Facebook page.
More animals arrive to Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park | The WildCare Park herd continues to grow! Eight addax, a critically endangered species of African antelope, arrived this month to Saint Louis Zoo... | By Saint Louis ZooFacebook
More animals arrive to Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park | The WildCare Park herd continues to grow! Eight addax, a critically endangered species of African antelope, arrived this month to Saint Louis Zoo... | By Saint Louis ZooFacebook
I was finally able to make a return visit to the Safari Park yesterday, so here are a couple of notes!
The Wings of the World aviary at the entrance of the Park, as well as the neighboring waterfowl and wading bird ponds are currently closed for construction/renovations. Some of the birds (largely the waterfowl) have been moved to other areas of the Park; however, others like the African openbills, Reichenow's helmeted guineafowl, and assorted smaller birds have been moved off-display.
Several of the lesser flamingo pairs seem to be sitting on nests currently!
The far side of the glass-fronted exhibits in the Nairobi Village is still closed for renovations.
I decided to go ahead and visit the Butterfly Jungle temporary exhibit in the Hidden Jungle aviary. For a temporary butterfly display, the collection of butterflies is quite impressive, with the signed species including:
-Malachite (Siproeta stelenes)
-Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
-Grecian shoemaker (Catonephele numilia)
-Orange Julia (Dryas iulia)
-Rusty-tipped page (Siproeta epaphus)
-Common blue morpho (Morpho peleidas)
-Tailed jay (Graphium agamemnon)
-Zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia)
-Giant owl (Caligo memnon)
-Pink rose swallowtail (Pachliopta kotzebuea)
-Banded purple-wing (Myscelia cyaniris)
-Postman (Heliconius melpomene)
-Paper kite (Idea leuconoe)
-Doris longwing (Heliconius doris)
-Red cracker (Hamadryas amphinome)
The exhibit costs an extra $15, and after entry you are given a vial of nectar with a faux flower on top to attract the butterflies. You have 15-20 minutes in the exhibit before you are moved on in order to keep up the flow of traffic and limit the amount of people in the exhibit at one time. The butterflies are only in the first of the two aviaries -- the second still has all of its normal bird inhabitants. It is the only butterfly exhibit I have been in that lets you feed the butterflies, and it is the most speciose/well-stocked butterfly exhibit I have been in as well. That said, I still do not necessarily think it warrants the $15 on top of an already expensive park .
A pair of Bennett's wallabies have moved into the Kangaroo Walk-About. These are two former ambassador animals.
There are at least two desert bighorn sheep lambs on display with the herd in Condor Ridge!
The new path between Tiger Trail and the future Elephant Valley is, indeed, open. It is a long and winding trail of nothing.... Hopefully after the completion of Elephant Valley the Park works to fill this space in.
There are unfortunately no longer secretarybirds on display in Africa Woods. Both San Diego parks have stopped exhibiting this species since the start of the year.
The okapi calf is spending more and more time on display. It was announced today on the Park's socials that he has been named "Bokasi", meaning "vitality" in Lingala.
The Wings of the World aviary at the entrance of the Park, as well as the neighboring waterfowl and wading bird ponds are currently closed for construction/renovations. Some of the birds (largely the waterfowl) have been moved to other areas of the Park; however, others like the African openbills, Reichenow's helmeted guineafowl, and assorted smaller birds have been moved off-display.
Several of the lesser flamingo pairs seem to be sitting on nests currently!
The far side of the glass-fronted exhibits in the Nairobi Village is still closed for renovations.
I decided to go ahead and visit the Butterfly Jungle temporary exhibit in the Hidden Jungle aviary. For a temporary butterfly display, the collection of butterflies is quite impressive, with the signed species including:
-Malachite (Siproeta stelenes)
-Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
-Grecian shoemaker (Catonephele numilia)
-Orange Julia (Dryas iulia)
-Rusty-tipped page (Siproeta epaphus)
-Common blue morpho (Morpho peleidas)
-Tailed jay (Graphium agamemnon)
-Zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia)
-Giant owl (Caligo memnon)
-Pink rose swallowtail (Pachliopta kotzebuea)
-Banded purple-wing (Myscelia cyaniris)
-Postman (Heliconius melpomene)
-Paper kite (Idea leuconoe)
-Doris longwing (Heliconius doris)
-Red cracker (Hamadryas amphinome)
The exhibit costs an extra $15, and after entry you are given a vial of nectar with a faux flower on top to attract the butterflies. You have 15-20 minutes in the exhibit before you are moved on in order to keep up the flow of traffic and limit the amount of people in the exhibit at one time. The butterflies are only in the first of the two aviaries -- the second still has all of its normal bird inhabitants. It is the only butterfly exhibit I have been in that lets you feed the butterflies, and it is the most speciose/well-stocked butterfly exhibit I have been in as well. That said, I still do not necessarily think it warrants the $15 on top of an already expensive park .
A pair of Bennett's wallabies have moved into the Kangaroo Walk-About. These are two former ambassador animals.
There are at least two desert bighorn sheep lambs on display with the herd in Condor Ridge!
The new path between Tiger Trail and the future Elephant Valley is, indeed, open. It is a long and winding trail of nothing.... Hopefully after the completion of Elephant Valley the Park works to fill this space in.
There are unfortunately no longer secretarybirds on display in Africa Woods. Both San Diego parks have stopped exhibiting this species since the start of the year.
The okapi calf is spending more and more time on display. It was announced today on the Park's socials that he has been named "Bokasi", meaning "vitality" in Lingala.
Nile Hippo Expert
Well-Known Member
Is it just me or has the Safari Park phased out like 10,000 animal species in the past few years?
@Kudu21 Do you still have to pay the $15 extra fee to see the aviary that just has birds? I'm assuming so, but wanted to double-check.
Also do you know how long the Wings of the World renovations are supposed to be going on for?
Very unfortunate news indeed
one of my favorite animals, now not on display anywhere in southern California. I even thought to myself when the zoo stopped displaying them "oh well, at least they're still at the safari park".
Also do you know how long the Wings of the World renovations are supposed to be going on for?
Very unfortunate news indeed
one of my favorite animals, now not on display anywhere in southern California. I even thought to myself when the zoo stopped displaying them "oh well, at least they're still at the safari park".
I would assume so, but I don't know for sure. You might be able to go to "exit" of the Hidden Jungle aviary and express to the attendants that you only wish to enter that aviary to see the birds and see if they'll let you in. There are attendants at all of the doors, so it would be really easy for them to make sure you're not trying to sneak into the other aviary to see the butterflies
I unfortunately do not. It appears that the renovations have just begun within the past week. I am assuming these renovations are similar to those going on at the Zoo as a result of USDA inspections now including birds. It seemed like all of the aviaries being renovated at the Zoo were closed for at least a month.
Hopefully one or both of the parks will exhibit them again in the future. I feel that they are a rather iconic species for the parks and are one my favorite birds as well. The Zoo's were moved to the Park to free up their exhibit space for birds coming from the emptied Owens Aviary, and the Park still maintains multiple pairs behind-the-scenes. Maybe they will return after breeding season. The white storks in their former exhibit are sitting tight on their nests at the moment.Very unfortunate news indeed
Now that I know that I can share this (it does not appear the Park intends to officially announce them)... I have another very exciting update from my visit to the Safari Park... A herd of 1.8 Nilgiri tahr (!!) has been introduced to the Asian Plains field exhibit! These unique and endangered Caprines are the only members of their species on public display anywhere in the world! I have a photo from my visit that will be posting in the gallery shortly!
Now that is very exciting! Nice to the Safari Park bringing in a rare ungulate instead of phasing one out. Any idea where these individuals came from?
I would imagine they came from Iron Mountain Ranch in Texas. They’ve been the only holder of the species in recent years.
Hopefully the addition of the tahr and the recent resurgence of breeding is a sign of a turning of the tides for the Park!
Nile Hippo Expert
Well-Known Member
I wonder who saw this one coming?! Probably no one.
Ngl, the amount of species Texas just has is hilarious.
Imagine a speczoo situation with them
That is excellent news! Glad to see this species finally return to public display after years of only being held at private ranches. I’ll have to get back to San Diego soon so I can see these guys!
After Elephant Valley, the space in between Elephant Valley and Tiger Trail could have the potential for Asian animal habitats and reopening the Asian Plains to the Public.
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