San Diego

Fun at the ZooBy Danielle Wilder

The San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, is one of the largest and most progressive zoos in the world, with over 4,000 animals of more than 800 species. It is also one of the few zoos in the world that houses the giant panda. It is privately operated by the nonprofit Zoological Society of San Diego on 107 acres (0.43 km2) of parkland leased from the City of San Diego, and ownership of all animals, equipment and other assets rests with the City of San Diego.

E lephants are the largest land-dwelling mammals on earth. They are brown to dark gray in color and have long, coarse hairs sparsely covering their bodies. They have very thick skin that keeps them cool. Elephant trunks serve as another l imb. A fusion of the nose and upper l ip, the trunk may contain more than 40,000 muscles that help the elephant use it to gather food and water. They also have large ears and thick tree-trunk-like legs to support their great weight.

Polar bears are among the largest carnivores in the world. Numerous adaptations uniquely suit polar bears to life in icy habitats. Their fur is thicker than any other bears’ and covers even their feet, for warmth and traction on ice. A thick layer of blubber beneath their fur provides buoyancy and insulation. Polar bears feed almost exclusively on ringed seals and, to a lesser extent, bearded seals.

Looked upon as the ambassador for all endangered species, the giant panda is a well-recognized symbol of international wildlife conservation. Pandas eat bamboo. Since giant pandas have the digestive system of a carnivore, they do not have the ability to digest cellulose (plant matter) efficiently and thus derive little energy and little protein from consumption of bamboo. The average giant panda has to eat as much as 20 to 45 lbs (9-20 kg) of bamboo shoots a day. Today, an estimated 2,000 pandas are found in the wild. By the end of 2006, there were a reported 180 pandas in captivity on mainland China and about 20 in other countries.

Special Thanks Too San Diego Zoo www.wikipedia.org www.defenders.org/wildlife