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Visit the Real Zoo That 'We Bought a Zoo' Was Based On

Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo, starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, and Thomas Haden Church, hits theaters today and is based on the true story of a father who moves his two children to a dilapidated zoo which they restore to its former glory.

The movie is set in the U.S. and was filmed just outside of Los Angeles, but the real-life zoo the story is based on is actually located in Devon, U.K. The Dartmoor Zoo is now the thriving home of dozens of animals including monkeys, reindeer, cheetahs and goats. The zoo also hosts special events, like photography tours, family days, and weddings.

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Three US Zoos for Spotting Baby Animals This Holiday Season

'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.

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Go Visit The Bronx Zoo's New Baby Giraffe While He's Still a Baby

New Yorkers have—at best—only a couple more weeks before winter ends the possibility of outdoor fun. It's already too cold to contemplate sunbathing or anything of the sort, but there's still just barely enough time for generic outdoorsy type outings. Conveniently the Bronx Zoo choose this week to debut their one-month old baby giraffe James Marjani, who had been off-exhibit bonding with his mother until now.

The 6-foot, 100-pound baby was born on September 14, 2001, and he won't remain a baby for very long. Giraffes spend 14 months in the womb, then they drop six feet at birth, they they start walking within an hour, and then they immediately begin adding inches and pounds. Within four years James Marjani will go from his current 100 pounds to something closer to 4,000 pounds, and from his current 6 feet to somewhere around 17 feet.

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The Miami Zoo's Escaping Indian Rhino Wants to Meet You

It's not exactly the Bronx Zoo Cobra escape, but over the weekend the Miami Zoo's Indian Rhino Juanpur took a little stroll outside his enclosure. Apparently a zoo official had left the door unlocked (seriously) and so Juanpur—nicknamed "Johnny"—was able to bump it open and wander around.

The 4,640-pound animal enjoyed his freedom for just under half an hour before he was successfully herded back to where he lives. By all accounts he was nonchalant throughout the "incident," displaying the kind of confidence that being a two ton animal provides.

All of which is the perfect excuse for us to again point you in the direction of the Miami Zoo. The park last came up when we were doing a roundup of five things to do in South Florida, at which point we described it as one of the top zoos in the country.

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The St. Louis Zoo is Awash in Cute Baby Animals

The St. Louis Zoo went out of its way to attract park-goers this summer, from opening a new Panda Trek to hosting a summer concert series. As the summer winds down, though, they're shifting to a more basic and straightforward strategy: reminding potential visitors that there are a bunch of cute baby things on exhibit, and that people who come to the zoo can see them.

Just this week the zoo let loose their new baby lion cub "Imani," which drew exactly the kind of press that you'd expect a rambunctious lion cub to draw. She's not technically on exhibit yet—apparently this was just a supervised excursion into her future home in Big Cat Country—but some visitors still managed to catch a glimpse of the cub.

Those who weren't lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time, of course, were still able to see the zoo's Amur Leopard, Amur Tiger, Jaguar, and Snow Leopard, all in nearby exhibits along the trail.

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

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.

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Ireland's Top Tourist Destination Has Nothing To Do With Beer

It's very easy to stereotype Ireland travel—to say nothing of Ireland itself—as a series of pubs, drunkenness, and the occasional potato farm. We know it's easy because that's almost entirely the picture that Tourism Ireland painted when they did their last social media campaign.

We wrote at the time that the image was a bit unfair, and that neither the country nor the tourists who travel there should be stereotyped. Then we highlighted Ireland, with its gorgeous scenary and summer cultural offerings, as one of the places where you should seriously consider spending your tax refund. Not to give away the ending, but not only were we were demonstrably right, but now there are numbers to prove it.

Figures came out over the weekend on Ireland's top tourism destinations. Wouldn't you know it, and despite the best efforts of frat boys everywhere, the Guinness Storehouse did not take the top stop. That was reserved for the impressive Dublin Zoo, with its 59 acres of plants and animals (by way of comparison, our beloved San Diego Zoo, a widely acknowledged global leader in conservation, clocks in at 40 acres).

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Rock Out with The Monkees and The Monkeys at a Zoo Near You

We already know that the zoo is a great place to drink this summer, but it’s also a great place to chill out with a little outdoor music. As long as the wildlife doesn’t get too crazy, here are three places worth checking out this summer that will provide a little music along with the menagerie:

· Oregon Zoo - Portland
When it comes to music with the animals, the Oregon Zoo in Portland does not mess around. Not only do they have plenty of concerts throughout select weekends during the summer, but they also are attracting some pretty big bands—at least for a place where the concert venue is next to the lions and giraffes.

Things start at the end of next month with Taj Mahal and Joan Osborne on June 23, and then there’s Mary Chapin Carpenter with Marc Cohn on June 25. Things get even better—well at least it seems that way to us—with Huey Lewis and the News, Peter Frampton, and Matisyahu all making appearances. Admission varies depending on the artist, but it’s usually no more than $30—although there are a couple of outliers—we’re looking at you Huey.

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Drink to the Animals This Month at Three 'Zoo Brew' Events

If you’ve ever wanted to get drunk with a skunk now’s the month to do it. Zoos across the country have started to add alcohol to their animal lineup, and if you’re looking for something to do at the end of May there might just be some sort of Zoo-Brew festival in your neck of the woods. Here’s three that we think are worth checking out:

· Brew at the Zoo - Atlanta
The best way to cool off in Hotlanta is with a refreshing adult beverage—although we’ve heard they’re also pretty fond of their hometown Coca-Cola. Instead of downing a couple in your neighbor’s backyard over Memorial Day weekend it might be best to head down to the Atlanta Zoo where there’s plenty of ales and lagers to go along with all the critters.

The Brew at the Zoo takes place between 5:30 and 9:30pm on Saturday, May 28, and it offers a chance to rub elbows with all of the place’s famous animal residents along with unlimited samples of the sudsy stuff. Local breweries like Terrapin and SweetWater will be showing off their latest concoctions, and giant pandas, gorillas, and naked mole rats are also going to be hanging around to provide a little live entertainment. Tickets include admission to all the fun and exhibits and start at just $40 for most if purchased in advance.

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How To See The Atlanta Zoo's New Baby Orangutan

Remy is a Sumatran orangutan who was born at the Fort Worth Zoo four months ago, and whose mom unfortunately became too ill to care for him. Looking for a solution, zookeepers fostered him out to the Atlanta Zoo, home of more orangutans than any other zoological exhibit in the United States.

There he was adopted by Madu, "one of the nation’s best surrogate mothers," and the two were removed from public viewing so they could bond. Now they've been moved back on exhibit, and visitors are lining up to get a glimpse of the pair.

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How To See Oklahoma's New Baby Elephant

A few years ago, Asha and her sister Chandra were temporarily transferred from their Asian elephant home at the Oklahoma City Zoo to the Tulsa Zoo, where they could hang out with Tulsa's bull Sneezy.

The goal was two-fold. First, the OKC Zoo needed the sisters away while the zoo constructed a new Elephant Habitat. The exhibit was completed and opened to the public last month, covering 9.5 acres of the park—one of the largest Asian elephant exhibits in any US zoo. There are three yards, a pool, and multiple display platforms for the public, plus specific areas where the elephants can be viewed while they're cared for. Task completed.

Second, the hope was that Sneezy would get the girls pregnant. Here the success was 50/50, with Asha but not Chandra coming back knocked up. Fast forward to last weekend, and the zoo got to announce their first ever elephant birth, a 304-pound girl who has yet to be named. There's actually a naming contest open to the public that should launch some time tomorrow or Friday, where zoo-goers will get to pick among three choices selected by the keepers.

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Three Other Famous Zoos With Cobras (That Haven't Been Misplaced)

In the wild, the sight of a king cobra raised in a full warning stance has been known to stop elephants in their tracks. That makes sense, since a king cobra's bite releases enough venom to kill even elephants, and so most animals tend to give them a wide berth. Not us humans though. We take the animals—which are the world's largest venomous snakes—put them in zoos, and keep them behind really really thick glass. Because we're creative that way.

The system only works, though, as long as we mange to keep the cobras behind the glass. If you tried to get into the Bronx Zoo's Reptile House over the last few weeks, you know that doesn't always happen. It works most of the time, but sometimes things go awry, giving rise to mild panic and clever Twitter accounts. The Bronx Zoo cobra Mia is back in her enclosure of course, but in case you're still curious, here's...

Three Other Famous Zoos with Their Own Cobras:

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