Beach grass silhouetted against sunset over Pacific Ocean with lifeguard tower in distance.

San Diego

La Jolla’s rocky shores serve as essential haul-out sites for California sea lions and habitats for seabirds like brown pelicans and cormorants. The San Diego Zoo, established in 1916, maintains extensive exhibits including Asian elephants and giant pandas, supporting conservation and education efforts.

La Jolla Sea Lions

California sea lions gather on the algae-covered rocky shores of La Jolla, a key haul-out site along the San Diego coastline. Nearby rocks also…

Open La Jolla Sea Lions

San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo, established in 1916, features enclosures designed to simulate natural habitats for endangered species like Asian elephants and giant pandas. Visitor…

Open San Diego Zoo

Photos from San Diego

Sandstone cliffs and sandy beach curve along the Pacific Ocean at Black's Beach near San Diego, California.
Black's Beach runs about two miles beneath the sandstone bluffs of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, forming the undeveloped southern end of Torrey Pines State Beach. No road reaches the shore directly; access is limited to a steep trail near the Torrey Pines Gliderport or a path off La Jolla Farms Road. The offshore La Jolla submarine canyon channels stronger, more consistent swells here than at neighboring beaches, making it one of San Diego's most reliable surf spots.
Torrey Pines coastal cliffs overlook Black's Beach and the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, California.
Black's Beach runs below sandstone bluffs in the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, which protects one of only two native stands of the Torrey pine, the rarest pine species in North America. The Torrey Pines Gliderport sits atop these bluffs and has operated since the 1930s, launching paragliders and hang gliders on the ocean updrafts that rise along the cliff face. Scripps Pier marks the shoreline to the south, near the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Sandstone cliffs and sandy beach curve along the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve near San Diego, California.
Torrey Pines State Beach runs beneath the bluffs of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve on the San Diego coast between La Jolla and Del Mar. The sandstone cliffs rise about 300 feet above the sand and were cut by wind and water into their present shape. The reserve became a state park in 1959 after a campaign led in part by conservationist Guy Fleming to keep the land from being developed.
San Diego Zoo parking lot with palm trees and visitor vehicles under blue sky.
The San Diego Zoo sits in Balboa Park, with its parking areas bordered by palm trees near the park's northern edge. The zoo opened in 1916 with animals left over from the Panama-California Exposition. Hills mark San Diego's inland terrain beyond the park's rooflines and tree cover.
Giant panda climbs wooden structure in San Diego Zoo habitat.
The San Diego Zoo partnered with China's Wolong and Chengdu panda centers from 1996 to 2019, hosting giant pandas such as Bai Yun and Gao Gao along with cubs born on-site, including Hua Mei and Su Lin. The zoo built its habitat with climbing logs, bamboo groves, and pools to mimic the bamboo forests of China's Sichuan mountains. The program ended in 2019 when its last pandas returned to China after more than two decades of breeding and research.
Four Asian elephants walk across a sandy enclosure at San Diego Zoo in California.
Elephant Odyssey is an eight acre exhibit at the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, built in 2009 to house the zoo's herd of Asian elephants. The habitat was designed with pools, mud wallows, and varied terrain to encourage the walking and foraging elephants do across large home ranges in the wild. Three elephants walk single file along the fence line while a younger one stays near the building behind them.
Beach grass silhouetted against sunset over Pacific Ocean with lifeguard tower in distance.
Fountain grass, likely Pennisetum setaceum, grows along dunes and bluffs on this stretch of San Diego coastline. Native to Africa and the Middle East, it has naturalized widely in coastal California, valued for its feathery seed heads and tolerance of sandy, salt-exposed soil. A lifeguard tower stands on the beach below, part of the network San Diego lifeguard services uses to watch over swimmers.
California sea lions rest on an algae-covered rock off La Jolla's coast.
California sea lions haul out on rocks like this one along the La Jolla coastline, within the San Diego–La Jolla Underwater Park and Ecological Reserve. Adult males can weigh up to 800 pounds and carry a thick neck and a raised bony crest on the forehead, larger than the females and juveniles they haul out alongside. Unlike harbor seals, they have external ear flaps and can rotate their hind flippers forward, which lets them move on rocks instead of just flopping along the ground.
California sea lions rest on rocky outcrops along the La Jolla coastline.
California sea lions haul out on a rocky outcrop near Point La Jolla, just offshore from the city sidewalks above the water. The area is part of San Diego's marine mammal protected zone, established in 2014 to limit disturbance to the animals. Adult males can weigh up to 800 pounds and dive more than 900 feet in search of squid and fish.
California sea lions and cormorants rest on rocky outcroppings along La Jolla's coastline.
Point La Jolla sits at the edge of the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve, a stretch of coastline protected since 1970. The exposed sandstone reef draws California sea lions, which federal law under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 bars people from touching or approaching. Double-crested cormorants and Brandt's cormorants perch on the same rocks, while La Jolla Shores curves along the hills across the water.
Brown pelicans and cormorants rest on rocky outcroppings off La Jolla, California.
Brown pelicans and double-crested cormorants rest on a sandstone outcrop off La Jolla, with a western gull at its edge. The rock sits within the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park and Ecological Reserve, established in 1970 to protect the shoreline from fishing and disturbance. Brown pelicans nearly vanished from the California coast in the 1970s due to DDT contamination before recovering enough to come off the endangered species list in 2009.

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