Introduction: Hello everyone! San Diego is and has been known globally for being a zoo lover’s paradise for years upon years thanks to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (formerly known as San Diego Zoo Global). The world-renowned zoo that was founded and envisioned by the legendary Dr. Harry Wegeforth opened in 1916. It quickly rose to the top of the “zoo hierarchy” thanks to its splendid habitats, many of which were the first of their kind upon opening, and rare species. While the main zoo was established to be much like a traditional zoological facility, one of the zoo’s later directors, Dr. Charles Schroeder, envisioned a facility where animals could roam freely much like they would in the wild. This led to the development and eventual opening of the 1,800-acre San Diego Wild Animal Park (now called the San Diego Zoo Safari Park) in 1972. Over the years, much like its sister facility, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has become a world-renowned facility which some may say is due to the main zoo’s fame but most of us zoochatters will agree it’s because of the park’s beautiful habitats and wonderful ungulate collection. While both the zoo and park are both run by the same organization called the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and have notable similarities, there are countless differences between the two which brings us to the primary purpose of this thread. Which facility is better and if you could only visit one of them which should you choose? I’ll be honest, as a regular visitor and member of both facilities, I too find it quite difficult to choose between the two. Now, ultimately it comes down to your personal preferences so in this thread, we will dive deep into each facility’s collections, habitats, rarities, and more to help you find your answer to this question. Discussion is very much welcomed here as I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about my two home zoos!
I have split this up into 3 different categories: collections, habitats, and rarities; and I’ll go into detail on how each of these works right below.
Collections: From a general standpoint, I think we can all agree that SDZ has a much more extensive collection but I’ll be dividing this up into the various taxonomic classes and families to see which facility leads in which class or family. For example, I may list out all of the felids at SDZ and all of the felids at SDZSP to see which has the better felid collection. I will be including both species and subspecies and will not be including any domestics but the Bactrian and Dromedary camel.
Here's a quick overview of the species count at both facilities, courtesy of @pachyderm pro from his America's Top 50 Zoos thread!
San Diego Zoo
Species & Subspecies (On and Off Exhibit): ~ 650
On Exhibit Mammals: ~ 120
On Exhibit Birds: ~ 300
On Exhibit Reptiles & Amphibians: ~ 130
On Exhibit Fish: ~ 15
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Species & Subspecies (On and Off Exhibit): ~ 380
On Exhibit Mammals: ~ 75
On Exhibit Birds: ~ 80
On Exhibit Reptiles & Amphibians: ~ 5
On Exhibit Fish: 0
Habitats: This section applies only to species that are housed at both the zoo and safari park. I will provide a photo (or two) and a short description of each habitat. I will also provide a follow-up paragraph with which habitat I think is better for the species and looks better (aesthetically speaking). Feel free to discuss and disagree with me as these are just my opinions, just make sure to tell us why you disagree.
Rarities: I will provide a list of rarities each facility houses, and I’ll count any species that the zoo or Safari Park is one of 5 or fewer North American holders of, a rarity. Both facilities are home to numerous rare birds and mammals but the zoo will likely surpass the park when it comes to herps. These rarity lists will be formatted much like the collection comparison lists and will be split up into various taxonomic classes & families.
I will be rotating through these 3 categories, so for example I'll post Collection Comparison #1, then Habitat Comparison #1, then Rarity List #1, and then go back to Collection Comparison #2, and so on. I have not yet decided how many of these I will do, I may end up completing all classes/families and habitats but I will decide this as we go along based on how long/feasible it will be.
Before we get started, I'd like to thank @Kudu21 and @Great Argus for all your help as well as @birdsandbats for some of your bird population lists and @TinoPup for your felids thread, these were all very helpful. I also used USDA inspection reports and information I learned from recent visits as additional sources for all the information included here. One last thing, I do not have a set schedule for when I will update the thread with new posts but expect at least 2-4 a week. Now I'm sure most of us have read enough about SDZWA on this site but I have tried my very best to keep this thread as unique and engaging as possible so I hope everyone enjoys this thread as much as I have enjoyed putting it together these last few weeks! Stay tuned, the first Collection Comparison will be posted shortly...
I have split this up into 3 different categories: collections, habitats, and rarities; and I’ll go into detail on how each of these works right below.
Collections: From a general standpoint, I think we can all agree that SDZ has a much more extensive collection but I’ll be dividing this up into the various taxonomic classes and families to see which facility leads in which class or family. For example, I may list out all of the felids at SDZ and all of the felids at SDZSP to see which has the better felid collection. I will be including both species and subspecies and will not be including any domestics but the Bactrian and Dromedary camel.
Here's a quick overview of the species count at both facilities, courtesy of @pachyderm pro from his America's Top 50 Zoos thread!
San Diego Zoo
Species & Subspecies (On and Off Exhibit): ~ 650
On Exhibit Mammals: ~ 120
On Exhibit Birds: ~ 300
On Exhibit Reptiles & Amphibians: ~ 130
On Exhibit Fish: ~ 15
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Species & Subspecies (On and Off Exhibit): ~ 380
On Exhibit Mammals: ~ 75
On Exhibit Birds: ~ 80
On Exhibit Reptiles & Amphibians: ~ 5
On Exhibit Fish: 0
Habitats: This section applies only to species that are housed at both the zoo and safari park. I will provide a photo (or two) and a short description of each habitat. I will also provide a follow-up paragraph with which habitat I think is better for the species and looks better (aesthetically speaking). Feel free to discuss and disagree with me as these are just my opinions, just make sure to tell us why you disagree.
Rarities: I will provide a list of rarities each facility houses, and I’ll count any species that the zoo or Safari Park is one of 5 or fewer North American holders of, a rarity. Both facilities are home to numerous rare birds and mammals but the zoo will likely surpass the park when it comes to herps. These rarity lists will be formatted much like the collection comparison lists and will be split up into various taxonomic classes & families.
I will be rotating through these 3 categories, so for example I'll post Collection Comparison #1, then Habitat Comparison #1, then Rarity List #1, and then go back to Collection Comparison #2, and so on. I have not yet decided how many of these I will do, I may end up completing all classes/families and habitats but I will decide this as we go along based on how long/feasible it will be.
Before we get started, I'd like to thank @Kudu21 and @Great Argus for all your help as well as @birdsandbats for some of your bird population lists and @TinoPup for your felids thread, these were all very helpful. I also used USDA inspection reports and information I learned from recent visits as additional sources for all the information included here. One last thing, I do not have a set schedule for when I will update the thread with new posts but expect at least 2-4 a week. Now I'm sure most of us have read enough about SDZWA on this site but I have tried my very best to keep this thread as unique and engaging as possible so I hope everyone enjoys this thread as much as I have enjoyed putting it together these last few weeks! Stay tuned, the first Collection Comparison will be posted shortly...
that can’t be true, can it? 
