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San Francisco Zoo Review
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San Francisco Zoo
- Address: Sloat Blvd. and 47th Ave., Sunset, San Francisco, CA | Map It
- Directions: Muni L-Taraval streetcar from downtown
- Phone: 415/753-7080
- www.sfzoo.org
- Category: Zoos/Aquariums
- Location: Sunset
Fodor's Review:
Nestled onto prime oceanfront property, the city's spiffy, well-funded zoo is morphing into the "New Zoo," a wildlife-focused recreation center that inspires visitors to become conservationists. Integrated exhibits group different species of animals from the same geographic areas together in enclosures that don't look like cages. More than 250 species reside here, including endangered species such as the snow leopard, Sumatran tiger, and grizzly bear.
The Lemur Forest has five varieties of the bug-eyed, long-tailed primates from Madagascar. You can help hoist food into the lemurs' feeding towers and watch the fuzzy creatures climb up to chow down. African Kikuyu grass carpets the circular outer area of Gorilla Preserve, one of the largest and most natural gorilla habitats of any zoo in the world. Trees and shrubs create communal play areas.
Ten species of rare monkeys—including colobus monkeys, white ruffed lemurs, and macaques—live and play at the two-tier Primate Discovery Center, which contains 23 interactive learning exhibits on the ground level. Among the most recent additions to the zoo is a pair of orphaned sibling grizzly bears. No, these aren't the bears on California's state flag; those have been extinct in California since the 1920s. (These two are from Montana.)
Magellanic penguins waddle about Penguin Island, splashing and frolicking in its 200-foot pool. Feeding time is 3 PM (2:30 on Thursday). Koalas peer out from among the trees in Koala Crossing, and kangaroos and wallabies headline the Australian Walkabout exhibit. The 7-acre Puente al Sur (Bridge to the South) re-creates habitats in South America, replete with giant anteaters and capybaras.
An African Savanna exhibit mixes giraffe, zebra, kudu, ostrich, and many other species, all living together in a 3-acre section with a central viewing spot, accessed by a covered passageway. The Feline Conservation Center, a natural setting for rare cats, plays a key role in the zoo's efforts to encourage breeding among endangered felines.
The 6-acre Children's Zoo has about 300 mammals, birds, and reptiles, plus an insect zoo, a meerkat and prairie-dog exhibit, a nature trail, a nature theater, a restored 1921 Dentzel carousel, and a mini-steam train. A ride on the train or astride one of the carousel's 52 hand-carved menagerie animals costs $2.
- Cost: $11, $1 off with Muni transfer, free 1st Wed. of month
- Open: Daily 10-5. Children's zoo 10-4:30
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