SAN DIEGO (May 30, 2024) – San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance reintroduced a group of endangered Pacific pocket mice to a release site outside of active training areas on Marine Corps Installations West, Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Pendleton. In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, this initiative is part of an ongoing effort to bring the species back from the brink of extinction.

Dive into the depths of water pollution issues and explore solutions for a more sustainable future.

Leap Day only happens once every four years. Explore which extraordinary wildlife leap, jump, spring, and everything in between.

LA JOLLA, Calif. (Feb. 26, 2024) – Love is in the water for the critically endangered Sunflower Sea Star as a team in California successfully spawned and cross-fertilized gametes from a male and a female, resulting in fertile eggs. This success marks another incredible step forward in an ongoing collaborative effort to save the species from extinction. This advancement took place at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, where their experts were joined by partners from the Aquarium of the Pacific, California Academy of Sciences, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) and Sunflower Star Laboratory. 

African penguins and California least terns share marine habitat challenges.

Polar bears at the San Diego Zoo are making a vital difference for their species.

SAN DIEGO (Jan. 1, 2024) – Today San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance participated in the 135th Rose Parade^® presented by Honda with a float celebrating the San Diego Zoo’s 107-year history. The float themed “It Began With a Roar” depicted iconic wildlife from the Zoo, including Rex the lion, whose mighty roar sparked a dream more than a century ago and inspired the world-renowned San Diego Zoo. 

SDZWA and our partners use customized drones to collect killer whale breath and monitor orca health in real time.

SAN DIEGO (Nov. 27, 2023) – When a mysterious illness called “sea star wasting syndrome” decimated 95% of the sunflower sea star population, and some 20 other sea star species along the Pacific Coast from Baja to Alaska in 2013, scientists rallied to understand the factors that caused such a massive wasting event. Now as part of the greater recovery initiative, in a scientific first, dozens of baby sunflower sea stars were hatched and are thriving thanks to a breakthrough in reproductive cell cryopreservation technology.

It takes a team and some careful observation to keep the San Diego Zoo's colony of 25 black-and-white African penguins in the pink.