There’s an important part of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park that most guests never see.

SAN DIEGO (April 29, 2024) – San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance conservation and care team leaders recently visited China and met Yun Chuan (pronounced yoon chu-an) and Xin Bao (pronounced sing bao) the two giant pandas to be cared for by San Diego Zoo.

Technology is making a powerful difference in the world of conservation, and our teams are at the forefront.

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

SAN DIEGO (Feb. 22, 2024) – San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) took an important step forward in having giant pandas return to the San Diego Zoo by signing a cooperative agreement with China Wildlife Conservation Association and filing a permit application with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

SAN DIEGO (Jan. 30, 2024) – San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and San Diego State University (SDSU) are joining forces to usher in a new way of studying snakes. In a collaboration between San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Rulon Clark, Ph.D., professor of biology at SDSU, biologists are tagging wild rattlesnakes with external transmitters and accelerometers. Previously, telemetry devices on snakes had to be surgically implanted—severely limiting this area of study. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and SDSU are among the first to use acceleration technology to study snakes.

SAN DIEGO (Jan. 9, 2024) – To apply cutting-edge technology to the conservation of koalas, San Diego Wildlife Alliance is partnering with Illumina, a leading genomic sequencing technology company, through the Illumina iConserve program to sequence the whole genomes (an individual’s complete set of DNA) of nearly 100 koalas residing in North America over the past 30 years. Whole genome sequencing is integral to learning more about Koala Retrovirus, KoRV – a virus that can insert into the koala genome and is associated with various health issues in koalas including immunosuppression and cancer.

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

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

SAN DIEGO (Dec. 22, 2023) – A collaborative effort between San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, regional fire departments, and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department has led to the installation of an innovative helicopter water tank at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. This strategic tank— funded by California Assemblymember Brian Maienschein—aims to bolster the region's wildfire response capabilities in Escondido and surrounding areas.