San Francisco Zoo & Gardens

No matter the size, cats will be cats! Happy Caturday!

📷: Steve Franks

Your post-Thanksgiving Day look-a-like! (Well, only if you over-indulged and need to rest!).

Come by and visit our Chacoan peccaries!

A Happy Thanksgiving from all of us to all of you! We are so grateful for your on-going support.

SF Zoo is open on this beautiful Thanksgiving Day (and every day!). We hope to see you with the whole fam!

One of our favorite times of year! SF Zoo is open 365 days a year, and so many families are enjoying our great Thanksgiving Week weather! Come on out for a visit!

Come to the Family Farm at 11 a.m. on both weekdays and weekends when our goats – LaMancha goats, Nubian, and Nigerian dwarf goats – receive their mid-morning snack! View them up-close as they forage from a variety of feeders, which is always a fun experience for young kids and adults alike!

Giant anteater Jade loves her giant mobile enrichment, and it’s always fun to “catch her in the act” of interacting and playing with it!

and CT scans give our veterinarians a much clearer, more detailed view than traditional X-rays. This helps them spot any potential issues that might otherwise stay hidden, keeping Andale healthy and thriving!

Andale, one of our two-toed sloths, recently took a field trip to Lenity Vet Specialists + Emergency Care for a whole-body CT scan as part of a routine checkup. Sloths have unique anatomy, including extra vertebrae and ribs compared to other mammals.

Anyone getting Titanic vibes?

Yawning is certainly an art! Male African lion Jasiri demonstrates his yawning technique – wide open, somewhat open and open even more! There are reasons why lions yawn so much. It’s a way to stretch the jaw muscles, and to alert the pride that it’s time to move.

📷: Steve Franks

Our education team can sometimes be found in our Zoo Library, like today! On this International Day of Zoo Educators, we celebrate our intrepid educators, who can always be counted on to know just about everything! Thank you for teaching young minds and connecting them with the wonders of wildlife!

Even if you have a lot to do, it’s ok to take a break.

In a contest between who can stare the longest, Jinx might have you beat.

Happy Caturday

📷; Steve Franks

Foggy Friday.

Lots of activity in the ghost mantis exhibit recently, and here you can see this species’ leaf-like body in motion! Native to East Africa and Madagascar, the ghost mantis is one of the smallest of the mantis species, and they blend in perfectly in their environment.

You can find animal feeding times from our web site or our new app. Be sure to download our app from the App Store or Google Play Store to find more animal connections each day!

📷: Justin Guiel

One of our most popular habitats is Penguin Island, and you can view our Magellanic penguins being fed twice daily.

Penguins are fed by hand to ensure each individual receives their daily diet plus vitamin supplements, and in some cases, medication. 1/2

📷: Justin Guiel

Routine wellness exams like this are an important part of the Zoo’s ongoing commitment to exceptional animal care and welfare. We’re happy to share that Jade’s exam confirmed she is a healthy adult female anteater!

During her visit, veterinarians performed a full physical exam, checking her weight, claws, coat condition, and unique tongue and skull anatomy. They also performed X-rays and an ultrasound to take a closer look beneath her thick, coarse fur.

Jade, our female giant anteater, recently received a routine wellness exam from our animal care and veterinary teams. These regular checkups help ensure that animals like Jade stay healthy and thriving.

A sunny day, lots of surprises, and more for Cecil the silverback’s 27th birthday!

📷: Andrew Nesheiwat

With the end of Daylight Savings Time, it’s time to fall back! Please note that our operating hours will change to 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., starting on Monday, November 3.

📷: Justin Guiel

We needed to sneak in a few more of these fun Halloween enrichment presentations, so bear with us! We couldn’t leave out Little Mebo!

Happy World Lemur Day!

In honor of World Lemur Day today, we are hosting a special keeper talk and will have a pop-up conservation table stationed at the Lipman Family Lemur Forest where you can learn all things lemur.

📷: May Woon

No tricks here! Grapes are cassowary Daintree’s favorite treats!

With the approximately 10,000 known reptile and nearly 8,950 amphibian species in the world, Oct. 21st is a day worth celebrating! Today is Reptile and Amphibian Awareness Day, a day to recognize the importance of protecting these species that contribute greatly to the health of ecosystems.

Your day just got better! Here’s red panda Little Mebo just doin’ what she loves to do – munch on bamboo!

Who else is “taking it easy” on this International Sloth Day? You can see our Linne’s two-toed sloth in the South American Tropical Rainforest & Aviary, where today, you can visit a pop-up conservation table to learn more about this very unique species!

This Saturday, Zoo Members can see Cecil for the first time as part of a special Members preview from 10 a.m. to 12 noon on October 18th. The habitat will be open to the general public thereafter.

Welcome Cecil!

Now having reached full-maturity, Cecil was identified by the AZA’s Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP) as a candidate to lead a family group. His genetics offer a strong match for the Zoo’s gorillas, and hopefully a breeding recommendation will be given in the future.