San Diego offers a great climate with warm weather and clear skies. This makes it a great destination for tourists looking for a break from bleak skies. The city offers many attractions for the visitor. In particular, the city provides great viewing opportunities for the wildlife enthusiasts interested land and sea animals from around the world.
SeaWorld
One of the premier amusement and marine zoological parks in the world is located at San Diego. SeaWorld was founded in 1964 as a small marine zoo near Mission Bay. The original inventory of animals included a limited number of seals and dolphins but still attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. The park has expanded many times over the years and now hosts millions of visitors.
The park offers a variety of rides and displays. The park is still best known for it “shows” featuring marine mammals performing in conjunction with human trainers. The shows featuring Shamu, a killer whale, is particularly well known. The tank or pool utilized as habitat and a performing stage for Shamu contains about 7 million gallons of water. Along with Shamu, nine other killer whales are maintained at the park.
Other shows include dolphins, walruses and other species of whales. Along with the shows, includes rides, and displays meant to entertain and educate all ages of visitors.
San Diego Zoo
Looking for another place to go wild in San Diego? The San Diego Zoo offers about 3,500 animals of more than 650 species all available for viewing. The zoo offers displays of animals from all continents and is one of the few facilities in the world to offer the giant panda.
Other interesting animal displays include the Polar Bear Plunge, which includes not only the great white bears, but a number of other arctic species. The Elephant Odyssey features animals from Africa ranging from the large pachyderms to smallest bugs native to the savannah. New displays featuring some of the rare species from Australia are in the works.
The San Diego Zoo not only displays these species but plays a part in the preservation of wildlife everywhere. School tours often utilize the zoo as part of the educational experience while biologists study the animals learning more about their life cycles and habitat requirements.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has a long history although it was known as the San Diego Wild Animal Park until recently. This park offers a large-scale habitat that is commonly viewed from trams. The park offers about 2,600 animals from more than 300 species. The park also displays numerous plant species from around the world in its botanical gardens. This area is separated from the animal parks and the grazing species.
Safari Park utilizes the natural hills surrounding San Diego to create habitat similar to the savanna or plains of Africa and Asia. The African species include elephants, giraffes and many other animals that would only be observed on the plains of central Africa. Smaller enclosures provide habitat for predators such as lions.
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is also a principle participant in efforts to rebuild the California condor species. The park works with other California zoos in a captive breeding program that incubates eggs and raises the birds with a condor-like puppet for imprinting. The efforts have helped improve the numbers of condors soaring above the high desserts of California.
About the author
Kevin Caldwell is the owner of Hotel Circle Hotels. Kevin enjoys traveling and writing about his experiences and sharing tips with others. Connect with Kevin on Google+ to learn more about him.
By Olivia GrilHey Folks! I'm Olivia from California, United States. I'm a blogger, travel lover, I can travel anywhere, whether it's a new place or already visited. I love meeting new people, clicking photos of every movement, and documenting my adventure. I also, write about travel, travel movies, the best places to visit, etc. Read my stories.
