San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park

Welcome back to sunny San Diego!


So our second stop in San Diego, on Wednesday, was the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. Steve and I believe that this is probably the way all zoos should be. Steve likes to say that their philosophy was to put people in cages and let the animals roam free. Most of the 1800 acre park was an open area where African animals roamed in communities together. One exception was this beauty.

Kitty! Speaking of kitties, here is the miniature version we got to see in the nursery at the park. It took us a while to figure out what we were looking for in a window display full of stuffed animals that were bigger than this brand new baby! So cute!


This is the train that we rode through the African safari area. For me, it was great to hear a complete interpretive message. For the two of us, we were provided with some fascinating animal facts. And for taking pictures it was frustrating that we didn't stop more...


This is a view of just a little bit of the African area from our train ride.


The next cats I'll mention were just slightly larger than the cheetahs. Like huge! They were amazing animals. But, still acting like cats of course. And here it was bath time!


The next large animal we'll discuss is the gorillas. They were pretty entertaining. The largest male stayed back in a large cave and watched everything that happened in their enclosure, and as a result, our pictures of him are pretty creepy... This gorilla carrying the burlap cloth was a trouble maker and taking the blanket from other gorillas, pestering them, and just enjoying putting on a show for all those watching and comparing him to people they know in their own lives...


So this next picture illustrates that if I ever run into an angry gorilla, let's face it, I'm in a lot of trouble.


In comparison, Steve has amazingly gorilla-like proportions, but honestly, would still get pwned in a gorilla fight.


So another baby picture, and another large animal. Well, this one isn't really big yet, but he'll get there. This is the baby rhino (we think it was a black rhino) that was in the nursery area of the petting zoo (no, we couldn't pet the rhino). Steve claims that not all babies are cute, but since I find this rhino cute even with all of his skin flaps, I find myself begging to differ...


Steve would be upset with me if I failed to mention what was probably his favorite animal of the trip, Secretary Birds. Apparently they were named for the feathers that stick out around their heads looking like a pencil stuck in a woman's hair... They were really neat looking birds and we spent a lot of time watching their funny movements. If you look closely, they have such thin long legs, but they will crush snakes and eat them with those stick-legs!


This is another bird Steve will talk about, but in a totally different way. The California Condor is highly endangered, and Steve classifies them with Pandas as evolutionary rejects. It was pretty neat to see them though, even though they are quite curious looking, ugly birds...


So we only saw one of this bird, and we didn't even spend much time looking at it, but since I was discussing random birds, and I LOVED how beautiful this one was, I thought it needed to be mentioned as part of the highlights of the park.


As long as we're looking at pictures of random animals... We saw meerkats just about everywhere we went, but I loved them each time we saw them. This one, obviously, was on look out.


The last random animal: some kind of deer we met at the children's petting zoo. As usual, Steve knows just where a random animal wants to be scratched, and by obliging them, made a fast friend.


Also as usual, a random child and I found each other. This little girl needed to tell me about how another deer elsewhere in the petting zoo only had an eye on one side of its head. She seemed to think it was rather important that I know this. Kids are AWESOME!


These were just a couple of highlights from the trip. However, if you would like to see many more pictures and read Steve's smart-alec comments about those pictures, just go to:

Link to Wild Animal Park Pics


There are also some videos spanning across views of the park and a few funny animals at:

Link to Wild Animal Park Vids


Enjoy!