The San Diego Zoo is a 100-acre wildlife park that is home to more than 12,000 rare and endangered animals representing over 680 species and subspecies. Located just north of downtown San Diego in Balboa Park, the Zoo is also an accredited botanical garden, caring for more than 700,000 individual plants, including a prominent assemblage of close to 13,000 specimens representing 3,100 species. Guests are invited to take part in exciting educational experiences and create lasting memories while supporting San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s conservation efforts worldwide.

NEWEST HABITAT:
The expansive new 3.2-acre Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorers Basecamp is designed to appeal to all ages and foster empathy for wildlife by exploring nature. Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, built on the site of the Children’s Zoo, features fresh and innovative elements, including eight buildings and habitats dispersed throughout four different habitat zones: Rainforest, Wild Woods, Marsh Meadows and Desert Dunes. The area blends innovation and immersive technology with opportunities to check out extraordinary species ranging from leafcutter ants and orb weaver spiders to prairie dogs
and sloths. There are interactive play opportunities, like a unique water feature with a 7-foot-high “floating” stone globe.

In 2023, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums awarded San Diego Zoo Top Honors in the Exhibit Award category for Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. The Exhibit Award recognizes excellence in habitat design, and highlights organizations that create inspiration through immersive conservation experiences. Wildlife Explorers Basecamp was also named a 2023 Orchid winner for Public Architecture in the annual Orchids & Onions Awards, hosted by the San Diego Architectural Foundation.