My Full Tour of the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California

This video shows a tour I made at the San Diego Zoo located in Balboa Park, minutes from downtown San Diego, California, USA.

Located just north of downtown San Diego in Balboa Park, the world-famous San Diego Zoo is home to a vast assortment of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians representing over 800 species and subspecies. The Zoo is built on 100 acres of lush canyons and mesas, with many landscaped pathways leading through bioclimatic zones and into aviaries. The Zoo also cultivates a prominent botanical collection with more than 700,000 exotic plants. Here, Queensland koalas nestle into eucalyptus trees, polar bears swim through a summer tundra habitat, and hundreds of colorful birds fly through numerous aviaries dense with fern trees and blooming jacaranda.

The San Diego Zoo is more than 100 years old. It was founded by a local physician, Dr. Harry Wegeforth, in 1916 when he heard lions roaring as he was driving near the Panama-California International Exposition in Balboa Park. He turned to his brother Paul, who was with him, and said, "Wouldn't it be splendid if San Diego had a zoo? You know, I think I'll start one." A few weeks later, he established the San Diego Zoo with the roaring lions and other wildlife that had been part of the Exposition.

Since then, the San Diego Zoo has become a world leader in wildlife care and veterinary care, natural environments for its wildlife residents, and conservation efforts around the globe. The Zoo is renowned for its botanical collection, education programs, and community outreach efforts, including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers channel, which features closed-circuit television programming about wildlife. The channel airs in children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses around the world.

There are three new areas of the Zoo – the Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, the Kenneth C. Griffin Komodo Kingdom, and the William E. Cole Family Hummingbird Habitat. These habitats connect guests to wildlife big and small, allowing them to discover ways that San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is collaborating to save wildlife worldwide.

The Zoo hopes people can enjoy discovering these wonders of wildlife as much as it enjoys sharing them. As its founder, Dr. Harry Wegeforth, said, "A zoo is just about the most fascinating place in the world".