The San Diego Zoo
There are countless reasons why San Diego is a great place to buy a home and put down roots and among them is the San Diego Zoo. The San Diego Zoo is a world class and world famous zoo housing more than 4000 animals. Among the residents of the San Diego Zoo is a Giant Panda, only five other zoos in North America house the endangered and widely loved Giant Panda bears. The San Diego zoo came into being in 1921 when a large plot of land in the Balboa Park area was set aside for the zoo. The San Diego Zoo uses revenue from its attractions to take care of their animals and support zoological education, science and conservation. They also maintains a research division, the Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES), which among other things breeds endangered animals in captivity and where possible releases them into their natural habitats.
The exhibits are designed to mimic the animals natural habitats and can contain more than one type of animal if the habitat would naturally be home to them. The zoo's Exhibits include:
- Monkey Trails and Forest
- Panda Research Station
- Polar Bear Plunge
- Ituri Forest
- Elephant Odyssey - This exhibit is currently under construction and was built on completely vacant property that had nothing on it before construction began.
They also maintain the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, which is a more wide open habitat where the animals are free to roam. Tours of the zoo and Wild Animal Park are available to the public. They offer guided tours of the San Diego zoo, covering more than 75% of the park and its' exhibits and for those with an adventurous spirit there is the Skyfari gondola lift that provides an aerial view of the park.
