The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, with more than 12,000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on 100 acres (40 ha) of Balboa Park leased by the city of San Diego. Its parent organization, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a private, non-profit conservation organization with one of the world’s largest animal associations, with over 250,000 families and 130,000 children’s members and representing more than half a million people. The San Diego Zoo has pioneered the idea of an inexpensive outdoor exhibit that recreates a zoo’s habitat. For decades, zoos have successfully acquired and bred giant pandas, although pandas were reintroduced to China in 2019. The San Diego Zoo grew out of abandoned animal exhibits after the Panama-California Exposition of 1915. Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth founded the Zoological Society of San Diego, which met on October 2, 1916, and followed the principles set by the New York Zoological Society at the Bronx Zoo. He worked as the president of the company until 1941. The permanent ground was laid in Balboa Park in August 1921; with the city attorney’s advice, it was agreed that the city would have all the animals and the zoo would care for them. The zoo began moving the following year. In addition to the animals on the show, the zoo got a restaurant from the discontinued Wonderland theme park. Ellen Browning Scripps advocated for a fence around the zoo to start charging the gate to pay. ZooNooz started in 1925. HVAC San Diego King
Zoo shows are often created around a single home. The same exhibit can mean many different animals can be found side by side in the forest and the native plants. Shows range from the African jungle (with gorillas) to the arctic taiga and summer tundra (with polar bears). Some of the largest aviaries are here, including Owens Aviary and Scripps Aviary. Most of the displays are “natural,” with invisible wires and dark shades (for bird watching) and accessible pools and air vents (for large animals). The San Diego Zoo also operates the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which features animals in a larger open area than the zoo. Animals are regularly exchanged between the two sites and between the San Diego Zoo and other zoos around the world, generally by the plans of the Species Survival Plan.
Address: 2920 Zoo Dr, San Diego, CA
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