A Walk Through Day at the #1 Voted World Famous San Diego Zoo ~ Balboa Park, CA

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Discover wildlife from around the world and make lasting memories for the whole family. Meet Wildlife at the San Diego Zoo. Rare & Endangered Animals. Voted #1 Zoo In The World. The San Diego Zoo in California, houses over 12,000 animals of more than 680 species and subspecies on 100+ acres of Balboa Park. The zoo is the most visited in the United States. The zoo was a pioneer in the concept of open-air, cage-less exhibits that recreate natural animal habitats. It sits on land leased from the City of San Diego.

The San Diego Zoo grew out of exotic animal exhibitions abandoned after the 1915 Panama–California Exposition. Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth founded the Zoological Society of San Diego, meeting October 2, 1916, which initially followed precedents set by the New York Zoological Society at the Bronx Zoo. He served as president of the society until 1941. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a zoo in San Diego? I believe I'll build one." — Harry M. Wegeforth, after hearing a lion roar at the 1915 Panama–California Exposition.

A permanent tract of land in Balboa Park was set aside in August 1921; on the advice of the city attorney, it was agreed that the city would own all the animals and the zoo would manage them. The zoo began to move in the following year. In addition to the animals from the Exposition, the zoo acquired a menagerie from the defunct Wonderland Amusement Park. Ellen Browning Scripps financed a fence around the zoo so that it could begin charging an entrance fee to offset costs. The publication ZooNooz commenced in early 1925. Animal collector Frank Buck went to work as director of the San Diego Zoo on June 13, 1923, signed to a three-year contract.

After several other equally short-lived zoo directors, Wegeforth appointed the zoo's bookkeeper, Belle Benchley, to the position of executive secretary, in effect zoo director; she was given the actual title of zoo director a few years later. She served as zoo director from 1925 until 1953. For most of that time she was the only female zoo director in the world.

The San Diego Zoo was a pioneer in building "cageless" exhibits. Wegeforth was determined to create moated exhibits from the start, and the first lion area at the San Diego Zoo without enclosing wires opened in 1922. Until the 1960s, admission for children under 16 was free, regardless of whether they were accompanied by a paying adult.

The world's only albino koala in a zoological facility was born September 1, 1997, at the San Diego Zoo and was named Onya-Birri, which means "ghost boy" in an Australian Aboriginal language. The San Diego Zoo has the largest number of koalas outside of Australia. In 2014, a colony of African penguins arrived for the first time in the zoo since 1979. They have since moved into Africa Rocks when it opened in 2017.

The zoo offers a guided tour bus that traverses 75% of the park. There is also an overhead gondola lift called the Skyfari, providing an aerial view of the zoo. The Skyfari was built in 1969 by the Von Roll tramway company of Bern, Switzerland. The San Diego Zoo Skyfari is a Von Roll type 101.

Exhibits at the zoo are often designed around a particular habitat. The same exhibit may feature many different animals that can be found side by side in the wild, along with native plant life. Exhibits range from an African rain forest (featuring gorillas) to the Arctic taiga and tundra in the summertime (featuring polar bears). Some of the largest free-flight aviaries in existence are here, including the Owens Aviary and the Scripps Aviary. Many exhibits are "natural", with invisible wires and darkened blinds (to view birds), and accessible pools and open-air moats (for large mammals).

The San Diego Zoo also operates the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (formerly the San Diego Wild Animal Park), a nearly 2000-acre park located 30 miles northeast of the Zoo near Escondido, which features animals in more expansive, open areas than the zoo's urban 100 acres can provide. Exhibits are themed mainly around Asia, Africa and Australia, with the five largest being 100- to 200-acre "savannas"; these mixed-species field exhibits feature grassy rolling hills, canyons, lakes, and rocky outcrops to give the animals a more naturalistic, enriching home. This approach has brought the Safari Park much breeding success, and (in an effort to maintain fresh bloodlines) animals are regularly relocated between the two locations. The San Diego facilities also actively exchange animals with other zoos around the world, in accordance with Species Survival Plan (SSP) recommendations.