Aerial Antics: San Diego Zoo

Aerial Pictures of the San Diego Zoo 

Welcome to the first addition of our new Zoo Tails feature in 2012 which we’re calling "Aerial Antics." I love to look at zoo maps but even better than hand drawn maps is to look at overhead pictures. Using satellite images from Google Earth and Bing Maps we're going to be taking a birds eye look at some the of the best zoos around the country. I'll also be sharing some fun zoo facts along the way. To get started, let's take a look from the air at one of the most famous and renown zoos in the world – the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California.

In this view, we are looking down at the Polar Bear Plunge exhibit., which opened in 1996 and was recently renovated in March 2010. Next to the polar bears is the West Station of the Skyfari aerial tram ride, built in 1969.  Click on the picture for a larger image.

Moving north from the polar bears we see the new Elephant Odyssey area.  The renovated area, once known as Hoof and Horn Mesa, reopened on May 26, 2009. 

One of the neat things about the San Diego Zoo is that it is only one of the nation's major zoos that have almost all of its major exhibits out in the open-air. The only major indoor exhibition building on grounds that I can see is the Reptile House, shown in the bottom right-hand corner of this image.

In this view, we can see some of the huge aviaries located in the center of the zoo. Part of the Monkey Trails and Forest Tales section, the Scripps Aviary is home to many colorful birds such as the amethyst starling, tinkerbirds, and the sociable weaver. 

I hope you enjoyed looking at these aerial pictures from the San Diego Zoo. Stay tuned for our next addition of aerial antics and be sure to follow us on Facebook for the latest zoo news.