Giant Panda Climbing Habitat at San Diego Zoo

Giant panda climbing wooden structure in its San Diego Zoo habitat.
Giant panda climbing wooden structure in its San Diego Zoo habitat.

The San Diego Zoo, founded in 1916 by Dr. Harry Wegeforth, sits within Balboa Park and holds one of the largest collections of species in North America. From 1996 to 2019, the zoo ran a research partnership with China's Wolong and Chengdu panda centers, housing giant pandas including Bai Yun, Gao Gao, and several cubs born on-site, among them Hua Mei and Su Lin. The panda enclosure was built with bamboo groves, climbing logs, and pools to mimic the animals' native habitat in China's Sichuan mountains. Giant pandas are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, with roughly 1,800 remaining in the wild. The zoo's pandas were returned to China in 2019, ending the program after more than two decades.

Photo taken in November 2011.

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