Jaunted - Tag: San Diego Zoo

Three US Zoos for Spotting Baby Animals This Holiday Season

Omri — 2011-12-02T15:40:05-05:00

'Tis the season for happiness and fuzziness, and there are few things happier or fuzzier than baby animals. Since we're all about enhancing holiday travel,, here are three zoos—each drawn from a different region of the country—where you can see recently born cute things:

· Following up an adorable litter of Giant River Otters from January, the Miami Zoo announced a few weeks ago that they had two more live pups to show off. The pups are about a foot long and weigh just under a pound, and are scheduled to go on exhibit sooner rather than later. While you're at the zoo you should visit Juanpur, our favorite escaping Indian rhino.

San Diego: How to Visit the San Diego Safari Park's New Baby Elephant

Omri — 2011-09-30T14:45:02-05:00

If you think about it, our beloved San Diego Zoo doesn't really have to be good at doing all the things they do. It's true that they have one of the more ambitious social media outreach programs we've come across from any travel or conservation-oriented organization, spanning multi-platform contests, constant tweet-ups, and even the baby panda iPad app that they announced just this morning.

And it's true that they have a whole slew of special behind-the-ropes tours and special experiences on-site for guests who want to get beyond the public exhibits, which—inasmuch as they have polar bears and pandas inside—are themselves kind of awesome.

But the point is that they don't really have to do any of that, because every year the Zoo and its sister Safari Park seem to have more and more cute newborn things for guests to coo over. Given this year's crop of baby hippos, baby elephants, and baby Satanic Leaf-tailed Geckos (totally true, totally real), the two locations kind of seem to sell themselves.

San Diego: A Complete Rundown of the San Diego Zoo's Special Experience Tours

Omri — 2010-09-07T16:45:46-05:00

We've spent plenty of time telling you how to enjoy our beloved San Diego Zoo virtually, whether via Google Maps Street View or through their PandaCam or by linking up with the Zoo's Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr accounts (all three of which, plus Foursquare, are sometimes used for the Zoo's ambitiously completionist social media contests). But there's a reason why the expression is all about having "a day at the zoo," and that's because nothing really compares to actually being there and seeing the animals.

Thus, the event planners and tour guides at the San Diego Zoo have put together a series of Special Experiences and tours for people who want to go behind the rope line and do a little bit more. We don't have the space to cover all of the myriad ways you can extend your visit, from sleepover programs inside the park to educational events geared toward children. The full range of options are listed here.

What's particularly exciting are the four Tours and Animal Interactions where anyone—kids tagging along or no kids, extra morning for a sleepover or no extra morning—can get behind the scenes and interact up close with the zoo's inhabitants. Last month, we headed down to SD to check out a couple of those tours ourselves, and here's a rundown of what we found.

San Diego Zoo Celebrating 'Panda Week' with Tons of Contests

Omri — 2010-08-02T17:16:16-05:00

Our beloved San Diego Zoo has a knack for getting attention with interesting new media stunts, but this time they've really outdone themselves. In celebration of Panda Week, during which three of the Zoo's famous Giant Pandas have birthdays, they've launched a full-blown new media campaign for fans and visitors.

Starting today there are Zoo-sponsored activities and contests across Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr, all revolving around the birthday parties, the Zoo's panda exhibit, and pandas in general.

San Diego: Pandas After Dark: The San Diego Zoo to Stay Open Late

Jennifer Kester — 2010-06-17T12:00:54-05:00

The party animals at the San Diego Zoo are going to keep the fun going later into the night with the Nighttime Zoo program. Okay, by "late," we mean 9pm. To take advantage of San Diego's long summer days, the zoo is staying open three hours later than usual and it's offering a slate of evening-only offerings.

Aside from visiting the animal residents, the zoo will have everything from acrobats to bird shows to Calypso musicians who play while hula-hooping starting June 25 to September 6, from 3 to 9pm.

First Look: The San Diego Zoo's New Polar Bear Plunge Exhibit

Omri — 2010-03-26T15:30:10-05:00

It's a huge day at our much-beloved San Diego Zoo, where they literally just opened the anticipated Polar Bear Plunge at noon. We got in a little early to take a look at the upgraded exhibit, where the Zoo's three gigantic polar bears live. First opened in 1996, it recently underwent major renovations and has now been formally relaunched. Kalluk, his sister Tatqiq, and their enclosure-mate Chinook were all out at one time or another to greet guests.

Our gallery of exclusive photos is after the jump, and we should probably mention that we took all of them from publicly accessible areas using a point-and-shoot without digital zoom. This is actually how close you get!

Polar bears and more, after the jump!

For Valentine's Day, See How Zoo Animals Get Their Swerve On

Jennifer Kester — 2010-02-08T16:20:14-05:00

It isn't only restaurants and candy manufacturers who are capitalizing on Valentine's Day. Zoos are selling themselves as a romantic place to bring your valentine with special events that revolve around observing animal mating habits. It's like what you see on the Discovery Channel, but live and sometimes accompanied with a meal.

Check after the jump to see which zoos are getting frisky for V-Day.