Educational Resources

The San Diego Zoo is bringing the Zoo to you, through San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers Corner! In each episode, you'll be taken on a fun and wild adventure to learn more about animals and their lifestyles. Dr. Zoolittle, Roberta the Zebra, and a cast of cool characters share stories, jokes, poems, songs, and interesting facts about wildlife. They also show you their favorite magic tricks, cook yummy treats, lead you through science experiments, and demonstrate how to make special crafts.

Young Wildlife Explorers can jump into the world of wildlife with every visit to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers website. This family friendly site is jam-packed with videos and information about animals, fun stories, hands-on activities, and games.

Did you ever wonder how movie animators make animals look so real? Follow along with story artist David Derrick as he draws a realistic tiger. You can create a striped big cat of your very own!

A variety of curriculum packages focused on specific species, Zoo habitats, and science or conservation topics are available at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers website. Recommended grade levels are included, but many can be adapted to other ages.

With detailed information, fun trivia, and much more, this website is a user-friendly, A-to-Z guide about favorite animals and plants—as well as many fascinating species you may not know much about.

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance scientists are engaged in a wide variety of studies to help animals and plants all over the world. Read first-person accounts about their current projects in the Science Blog.

Anyone can become a “community scientist” and contribute valuable data to conservation scientists through this online tool. Help count and identify giraffes and other wildlife in field sites in Africa with Wildwatch Kenya, and help identify populations of burrowing owls and their behaviors with Wildwatch Burrowing Owl. You'll be helping field researchers sort through thousands of field camera photos that it would take them years to do alone—and help them make conservation discoveries and decisions much faster!

Learning to read scientific literature is an important and useful skill. These lessons were developed by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance for use in conjunction with Exploring Conservation Science field trips to the Beckman Center and the adjacent Safari Park. All of these lesson plans are related to research being done by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance scientists.

These fact sheets—commonly used by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance team members and freely available online—summarize information on an animal species or animal group. Sources include peer-reviewed journals, scholarly books, authoritative reports, and databases, as well as scientific and husbandry experts.

This activity is designed for middle school students, but can also be done at the high school level if appropriate. It is an art and craft style activity requiring a few household supplies. Constructing a karyotype is in conjunction with learning about chromosomes and how they are used to determine the sex of a sexually monomorphic species, such as the California condor.

The Biodiversity Investigations Field Mission was created in collaboration with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the San Diego Natural History Museum to enhance middle school student exploration and learning around the iNaturalist community science program and the Life in a Biodiversity Hotspot program. This is a three-part educational experience, in which educators introduce their students to iNaturalist; students actively explore biodiversity concepts at the Beckman Center, and students are led through an iNaturalist Biodiversity Investigation, focused on scientific research being conducted at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Our hope is that upon completion of this program, students are able to engage with active scientific research as community scientists, and walk away with a greater appreciation of San Diego's regional biodiversity and the role they play to protect it.

Take a walk on the wild side through the San Diego Zoo! This 22-minute, narrated exploration of the San Diego Zoo is the perfect way for you and your students to take a plunge with our polar bears, talk about the tigers, wave to our black-headed weavers, and check out the other wildlife that lives at the San Diego Zoo, all from the safety and comfort of your own home or classroom!