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The San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park is a zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in the city and Southern California. The Park houses a large array of wild and
endangered animals including species from the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North and
South America, and Australia. The park is in a semi-arid environment and one of its most notable
features is the Journey into Africa tram which explores the expansive African exhibits.
These free-range enclosures house such animals as cheetahs, antelopes, lions, giraffes, okapis,
elephants, zebras, Przewalski's horses, rhinos, and bonobos. The park is also noted for its
California condor breeding program, the most successful such program in the country.
The Park, visited by 2 million people annually, has an area of 1,800 acres (730 ha) and, in 2005, housed
3,000 animals of more than 400 species plus 3,500 species of unique plants.
Depending on the season, the park has about 400 to 600 employees. The park is also Southern California's
quarantine center for zoo animals imported into the United States through San Diego.
The San Diego Wild Animal Park has the world's largest veterinary hospital. Next door to the hospital is
the Institute for Conservation Research which holds the park's Frozen Zoo.
Both the park and the San Diego Zoo are run by the Zoological Society of San Diego.
The Wild Animal Park is 32 miles (51 km) away from the zoo, at 15500 San Pasqual Valley Road east of
Escondido, California, along California State Route 78. |
