Aug. 28, 2024

131. Live from The San Diego Zoo

Show Notes
Transcript

Join us for an adventure through the San Diego Zoo, starting with free parking and a tour of the famed Big Loop. We explore key exhibits like the Urban Jungle Koalas, aviary, Madagascar Habitat, and the Sun Bear Forest. Highlights include the koalas, free-roaming birds, blue fish in the Madagascar highlands, and an in-depth look at the zoo’s unique Guided Bus Tour. Visitors discover various species like Malayan tigers, hippos, and elephants, learning about their behaviors and habitats. The journey wraps up with a look at the California condor and other unique attractions, capped with a ride on the Skytari to conclude the visit.
00:00 Welcome to the San Diego Zoo

00:19 Planning the Big Loop
01:21 Exploring the Koala Exhibit
01:45 Bird Watching in the Aviary
02:55 Discovering the Madagascar Habitat
05:02 Sun Bear Forest Adventure
05:47 Guided Bus Tour Highlights
12:51 Elephant Odyssey and Beyond
17:16 Concluding the Tour
17:22 Taking the Skytari

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WEBVTT

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Calaroga Shark Media.

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I'm Johnny Mack and travel is back. Welcome to the

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San Diego Zoo, where surprisingly parking was free, tickets not

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so much. Where parking was free, and me being from

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New York, I grabbed the first spot I saw, and

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I wound up being far, far into the parking lot,

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and I saw that most of the parking lot was empty,

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and I could have parked a lot closer. So let's

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jump in and you'll hear me walking up to the

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entrance gate with my daughter. Check out the map. See

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what we want to check out? I say, we do

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the Big Loop. Big Loop around the edge to the right,

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up the hill, down and back around. How's that sound.

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The Big Loop is a popular route for visitors exploring

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the San Diego Zoo. It's a circular path that takes

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you through many of the zoo's key exhibits and attractions.

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The walkway allows guests to see a diverse array of

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animals from different parts of the world. You might encounter

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anything from arctic species to tropical rainforest drollers as you

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make your way around. The Big Loop is designed to

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provide an efficient way to experience much of what the

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zoo has to offer. It's especially useful for first time

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visitors and those with limited time, as it hits most

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of the zoo's highlights. Along the way, you'll find various

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rest areas, dining spots, and gift shops. The path is

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well marked and relatively flat, making it accessible for most visitors.

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Did I mention the gift shops? I just hit the

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second gift shop so far. When we get suntan lotion,

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sunglasses and we have our eyes and a couple of

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hats for later, we still haven't seen any actual animals.

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We have fun urban jungle koalas. Let's do it. The

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Koala Exhibit, part of the Australian Outback section of the

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Big Loop, offers visitors a glimpse into the world of

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the iconic morsupials. No such thing as a koala bear,

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I've made that mistake. They're just koalas. They are not

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koala bears. Visitors can observe koalas perched in Eucalyptus trees,

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often dozing or slowly munching on leaves, mostly sleeping. The

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exhibit is designed to mimic the koala's natural habitat, with

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multiple viewing areas that allow guests see the animals from

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different angles. Okay, now we're in the av area. We

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had to go through like a security gate, so we

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don't let the birds out. But the birds are just

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free with us, which is awesome. Here's some white fronted

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bee eaters. They're all beautiful. They're all right there. Look

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at the street right here. Look at the yellow one

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hanging upside down. Now in the lower bird sanctuary, let's

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just get some sound here. All we found the waterfall thing.

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This is the Mani Gascar habitat and the Madagascar habitat

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and falls. Highly recommend it. On a hot day, shady

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and it's wet. We found some beautiful blue fish. They're

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not crocodiles, which is what it says on the sign.

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Here is I have to read the other sign like

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blue with black stripes, really really pretty fish. What are

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these call? The other sign didn't have it either, secret

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fish decoration fish. There's a crocodile somewhere. Okay, we just

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stumbled into some sort of underwater viewing. No idea what

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Tom pronound to find sharks? You said sharks and penguins.

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We probably should have gotten a map. Be sure you

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didn't make up sharks. I did some research. Here's what

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I found out. The San Diego Zoo does not have

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a sharks and penguins exhibit. You might be confusing it

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with a different attraction in San Diego. I didn't get

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to that one. The San Diego Zoo was primarily focused

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on land animals and does not have large aquatic exhibits

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for creatures like sharks. They do have some birds, including flamingos,

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but they don't have penguins. It's the Sunbear Forest. We

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almost walk right by it. Sunbaar Forest represents rainforests of

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tropical Asia. It's home to tree dwelling monkeys, birds and

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sun bears. Birds need food, shelter for coming, and protection

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from people. All but polar bears find thees and forests.

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International laws protect polar bears, but all other bears face

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exploding human populations and wholesale felling of forests. You've had

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a sun bear. Oh, that's cool, looking love the sun bear.

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He has a fan. It's blought by the tree where

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you are, big fan. That's funny, that's why he's there,

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all right. So after walking around for a while and

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realizing we're terrible at finding animals, we took the bus tour.

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The San Diego Zoo offers a guided bus tour that

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provides an excellent overview of the entire park, known as

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the guided bus Tour, or sometimes the double decker bus Tour.

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It's a popular option for visitors, especially those looking to

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orient themselves or those with limited mobility. Key points on

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the bus tour last about thirty forty minutes. It covers

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about seventy percent of the view. It is narrated live

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by a knowledgeable guide who provides information about the animals, exhibits,

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and the zoo's conservation efforts. We're about to hear the guide.

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The buses are often double decker with open air upper decks,

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offering unobstructed views. Tours run throughout the day, usually about

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every ten or fifteen minutes. It is included with your admission.

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It doesn't exactly follow the Big Loop, but it is

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close enough. And I got a pro tip for you.

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Sit on the upper level and sit on the right

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hand side. I got a pro tip from an insider there.

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I'm so excited to share with you all of my

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favorite fish animals. You're at the zoo.

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T hit going there. The first thing you will see

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is Breast Street.

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And where we will find a number of the rents

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of fake activities that we have to offer. One of

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the first things we will see it will be on

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your right, is this will be the American flamigos. The

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American tomago is actually the brightest prime your species of

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blomingo and they get this gorgeous coloration.

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Acrom the protein that they eat.

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They eat a lot of shrimp, the same color that

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turns shrimp red like well, they know their gorgeous color.

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Pro Street, which is where we're heading. Down here, you'll

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find the Wildlife Space Explorers Base CASP.

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And is this habit that you will see one of

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my favorite animals, that is the dumb beetle.

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To the Sinne Zoo has the African.

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Dumby, and the dung beetle is amazing and it's a

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special animal, not only because it's spends its days hanging

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around in poop, but because of its amazing strength.

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You may notice, as we did down.

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The lost Forest here that the vegetation in the jungle

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is very thick and curated very diversely.

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This is because not only does the San Diego Zoo

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conserve animal species who do the same for plants.

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In fact, we have over a three one hundred different

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species of plants.

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Here in our zoo that you see as you walk

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between habitats and habitats.

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Alrighty, And this jungle is here for a reason. That

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is because you will find our Malayan tigers just to

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our rights.

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And this is a species native to the jungles of Malaysia.

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So this is a tiger species. And we have three

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tigers here. We have Connor, we have Sinta, and we

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have Barani, and they are all brothers. Connor is the oldest.

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He was born from a previous litter, while Sinta and

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Barani were from a younger litter where they had.

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Two sisters who now live in other zoos.

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Tight in the Asian forest is slowly morphing into the

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African forest, and that's because we are nearing our animals,

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the hippopotamus, which is actually the deadliest animal in Africa.

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It is not the line, it is not the buffalo,

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it is the hippopotamus.

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We have two hippopotamus at the zoo.

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A mother and a baby. The babies born in twenty

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twenty actually have the opportunity to come visit the baby

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when I was at that age. It was just the

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cutest little thing. Hippopotamus actually do not swim, but they

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are a very dense species, so.

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They have a layer of skin, a very thin layer

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of fat, and then the rest is almost retiredly muscle.

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So this means they sink to the bottom of the

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water and they run along the floor, so they're not

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actually water swimmers.

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They are underwater marathon runners.

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Hippos also spend about sixteen hours of their day underwater.

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This is because where they're native to in Africa is

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very hot and there's a lot of sun exposure. So

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over time they've adapted behaviors to hang out in the

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water and that's a form of thermal regulation. So they

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spend about sixty hours of the day under that water.

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And that's where we have those very large windows where

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you can see our gorgeous hippos.

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That's there.

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We also had the oak copy, but they weren't out

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in a great view. Are actually the closest living relative

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to the giraffe. I know they look nothing alike, but

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that's because their linear just split apart eighteen million years

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ago through their very long neck and through a distinct

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coloration that you see today here at the African marsh habitat,

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and this is where.

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We'll see our Alan's swamp monkeys and those are only

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habitat just to our right.

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Here Alan's monkeys you'll see are those brownish colored monkeys,

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and they also have.

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The red tailed monkeys and spotty legged autos. Here we're

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gonna continue on, but before we do, I.

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Want to draw your attention to this habitat on our right.

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This is where you'll finally speaks gauzells the southern kudoo

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and just on the other side of that rock wall

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is our zebra. See.

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All of these species are pray species of Africa, and

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pray species actually have several adaptations or protection that have

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adapted over millions of years that really set them apart.

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And one of these adaptations they'll talk about right now

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is behavioral.

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This is hurting behavior.

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You can see these species all around the world, and

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this is an example of behavior that has adapted many

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different lineages.

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But this hurting behavior is where the healthy and.

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More individuals surround the outside of the group and their

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job is to scan and look for predators. You can

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see there are also physiological adaptations that they have the protection.

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One of which is the development of the eye sockets.

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So many praise species that you can see have eye

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sockets that.

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Develop on either side of their skull. You can see

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this when this speaks Gazell's you can see this would

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the boons a bok on our right.

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You can also see with the candel and the garok

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or even deer species in North America.

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This is when they have a much wider field of

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view when scanning for predators on the horizon, and they

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can also detect a movement a lot easier. We can

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compare this to predators. Predators often have eye sockets that

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develop at the font of their.

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Skull, and this is when they have a much more

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clear and differentiated view of one single individual in a herd.

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So they can hunt them better. So if you look

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at our polar bears down on the left side here,

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or warms or mountain lions, their eyes developed at the front.

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Of their skull, So that's an easy way to tell

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predator for prey if you're ever wondering. Now, as I

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reached the top of the hill, we are passing by

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our skyfari west and this is our trans service that.

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Takes you from one end of the zoom to the other.

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It's a one way ride, but you get amazing views.

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Of all of our habitats as well as many historical

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buildings in a Babela park. So we're going to continue

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on here into the elephant honysty and this is where

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you can see a modern descendants of prehistoric animals that

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existed in southern California, many of which, like the Sabritaine.

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Cat, have modern relatives like the lions. So these are

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are lions.

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This is their habitat. I don't have a great view

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of Ernest or miss ellen Hare, but we have a

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brother and sister parent. Oftentimes you can see them sleeping

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and lounging around their habitat.

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That's because lions thik about twenty hours in a given day,

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so they're saving up all their energy for their playing

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and hunting behavior that they do. As we move on,

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we will see the next large cat species of our tour,

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and this is Nindiri.

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So she is our jaguar and she is native to

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the Amazon, so she's the space where Amazonia Conservation.

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You'll see her right there.

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Normally she's very elusive, but folks have a great view

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of her just in the back right hand side.

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There, I'm a scoot along, so everyone has a chance.

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Jaguars are extremely gorgeous animals.

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So they have that rosette pattern that you see with leopards,

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but on the inside of.

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That rosette there's gonna be a dot, and that's how

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you can distinguish them from leopards or even cheetahs. She

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does have single dots.

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Leopards have rosettes and the jaguars have rosettes for the speck.

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That's how you can tell from a part. Also, jaguars

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are a lot smaller. As I continue here, we are

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driving by our elephant care center and if you see

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one of our young males has to pap on the test.

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This is a wonderful example of animal dentistry. This elephant,

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one of our young nles in a play fight with

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one of the others, have a little rack on it

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and it wasn't too bad, but for their injury, they

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decided to put a cap on that tust and that

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is what we have done here.

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So this is our Elephant here center, and this is

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where all of our medicine is done for our elephants.

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Elephants are very large, as you know, they can weigh

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between four thousand and fourteen thousand pounds, and this is

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transporting them from one side of the zoo to the

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other with post some big difficulties. So we have this

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care center here where they can get daily weight, they

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can get their psive reinforcement training, anything.

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Necessary done right here, we can also see we.

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Have this other side to the elephant honesty. This is

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normally where Shava hangs out. She's our female matriarch.

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She is the oldest. She's around forty three years old,

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and because the boys.

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Are a little bit younger and a little bit more rambunctious,

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she likes her own space and quiet over here, she

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can go and hang out with them whenever she would

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like put off the time. She's over here grazing, getting

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those leaf items from the utilitry, and just hanging out.

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Oftentimes you can even see them throw mud and dirt

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on them, and that's a form of thermo regulation and

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sun protection as well. They don't want their skins to

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get overexposed to the sun, so they throw dirt on

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there naturally, but they also have these scratching posts to

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take it off that they need. Here on my right,

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we are leading African heading into the Middle East. This

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is where we'll see the camels, and they are a single.

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Humped camel species.

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They does have one book on their back and that

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is actually filled with fat deposits. So in the desert,

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there's not a lot of food available, and so they

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have that hump there so they can easily digest that

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fat and use it for food energy when there's not

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much food available. They also have another adaptation that you

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can't see, but it's internal, and this is their kidney functions.

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So they have very specialized kidneys that can hold on

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to and retain a lot more water when necessary and

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excrete more concentrated urine, so in times of drought, they

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can hold onto a lot of water and exp really

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concentrated urine.

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And this is what they can ge wheat without drinking water.

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While less humans can go a couple of days and

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we're struggling or near death, but these can go so

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several weeks and they're amazing at it.

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And I look at that just up.

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There on that ridge is our California condor And this

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is the face of the American Southwest conservation habits and

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actually an amazing success story for the conservation.

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Or here in our own backyard. This is also on

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our left.

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Here approaching our tropical fruit garden, you can see these

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pluscious fruit treat This is where we grew up in

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fruit and a bunch of other bridge for our tropical

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fruit ears.

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I would like to eat it, but it actually goes

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all back to our animals. This is like the scene.

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Becazoo has personalized nutrition plans not only for each species,

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but for each individual animal.

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It is time to hit the sky fari. Now I'm

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a bit of a scaredy cat up there. I did okay,

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though it wasn't too scary. But you'll hear me argue

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with my daughter about who should face backwards. Definitely not me.

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The Skyfari at the San Diego Zoo is more than

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just a riet. It's your personal passport to the skies

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of one of the world's most famous is good views

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up there. The iconic aerial tram gives you a bird's

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eye view of the sprawling one hundred acre park, gliding

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over treetops and offering stunning vistas of lush exhibits and

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exotic animals below. Whether you're looking to save time between attractions,

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or you know, just want to go for a ride,

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which is what I did. Hit the sky Fari. We're

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about to take the Skyfari to the other end of

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the park. When you said that I can't go backwards

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landing was the scariest part. Thank you today. And that

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was my day at the San Diego Zoo. I hope

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you enjoyed that. I sure did. It is a must.

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Oh.

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I have to mention I went there right before the

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pandas came back. I mean I missed the pandas by

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like two days. But there are pandas now on exhibit.

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If you go to the San Diego Zoo. Didn't see them.

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I did see them like twenty five years ago, or

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I guess I saw differ pan as. Anyway, the pandas

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our back, baby, and you know what else is back?

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Travel is back. You see what I did there? All right?

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Endure your travel, See you next time, all right.

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H

131. Live from The San Diego Zoo

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