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What Kind Of Animals Live In San Diego What Kind Of Animals Live In San Diego Mission

These animal encounters in San Diego, California include naturally occurring experiences, visits to wildlife sanctuaries, & interactions at top attractions.

Nosotros're lucky to have animal encounters in San Diego that are naturally-occurring, at wildlife sanctuaries, or in our conservation-minded attractions similar San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Did you lot know that parents specifically program San Diego family vacations to cultivate their kids' interests in oceanography? Leopard sharks, tide pools, and seals aside, nosotros have even more to offering creature lovers abroad from the coast. Our mountains and valleys are home to an exotic beast sanctuary, a camel dairy, and raptor schools, to name a few. We're even a part of the Pacific Flyway used by migratory birds.

Some of these creature interactions in San Diego are gratuitous ways to enjoy the outdoors while others require access. Many of them are well-known and on my list of things to do in San Diego with kids. However, I'thou willing to bet there may be a new-to-you lot thought on this listing and y'all don't accept to exist a child to enjoy it!

OFFERINGS MAY BE MODIFIED

Due to electric current circumstances some offerings at our open attractions may exist temporarily modified. But about tin be seen or booked now.

You lot tin can save on tickets, tours, and hotels through my affiliations. If y'all make purchases through the links in this postal service, I may be compensated.

1. La Jolla Seals and Body of water Lions

Sea lions huddle up on the rocks at La Jolla Cove, one of my favorite animal encounters in San Diego.
The La Jolla Cove ocean lions are a communicative bunch.

While I may exist biased, I admire our La Jolla seals and sea lions. I have written extensively about how to visit them. The two pinniped groups hang out in two dissimilar spots. However, if you are kayaking or snorkeling in the La Jolla Underwater Park, yous may find yourself in the h2o next to either one.

Children'due south Pool Beach is a rare urban seal rookery where harbor seals residual on the sand and give birth during the pupping season, which is between Dec 15–May 15. During pupping season, the beach closes to humans. In the summer, when people can sunbathe and swim in the sea hither, our seals tend to vacate early in the morning and return near sundown. Needless to say, if yous fourth dimension your visit right, you're likely to grab a glimpse of seals flopping around or sleeping on the embankment.

Just a few minutes' walk away, sea lions make Point La Jolla at the south end of the La Jolla Cove their dwelling. Man, are they chatty and fun to watch! Kids adore them but adults spend plenty of time taking in their shenanigans, too.

THEY'RE CUTE BUT PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE

I implore y'all to keep your distance even though these wild animals are used to humans. Bring a zoom lens simply in instance (I do). If y'all stay on the boardwalk, they're usually close enough for a cracking photo. Even if they're non, you lot'll still encounter and hear them.

two. San Diego Zoo Safari Park Lorikeets, Wallabies, and Caravan Safari

Note: Animate being encounters are temporarily unavailable then this information is for when they resume. Some upgraded tours are available. If you lot buy San Diego Zoo or Safari Park tickets using my links I may be compensated, simply I have the best price!

Feeding a rhino on Caravan Safari at San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
If they're willing, you lot can feed a rhino during the Caravan Safari.

I love San Diego Zoo Safari Park for its various animal interactions and conservation initiatives. You can typically (if they're hungry and willing) feed rhinos and giraffes on the Caravan Safari which is an upgraded experience that I recommend. Caravan Safari is temporarily unavailable, but you lot can still get closer to the animals with a Backside-the-Scenes Safari or a new i-hr Wildlife Safari.

Many animal interactions San Diego Zoo Safari Park offers are included with general access. Speaking of admission, I've written extensively virtually how to find a San Diego Zoo Safari Park tickets disbelieve so that yous can pay less for the privilege.

A petting zoo full of generally sheep and goats awaits in Nairobi Hamlet. In this child-friendly zone, you too may run into a few friendly animal ambassadors outside of the petting area.

I suggest heading over to Walkabout Commonwealth of australia first thing. You'll want to exist there when the wallabies are permit out in the morning. Y'all tin can walk through their habitat and they literally bounciness effectually yous. It'south fun. Then, caput over to the platypuses.

For a few dollars, buy a loving cup of nectar to feed the pretty lorikeets over in Lorikeet Landing. They'll even country on your arms sometimes while eating it.

Become Early

Lorikeets tend to fill up with nectar provided by generous guests and swallow less later in the day.

3. San Diego Zoo Inside Look, VIP, and Other Tours

Notation: Offerings are temporarily modified but full buyouts of tours are available.

San Diego Zoo usually offers Keeper Talks to learn more almost the animals and some Galapagos tortoise feeding opportunities (if you lot fourth dimension your visit to their enclosure correct). The best creature encounters at San Diego Zoo are through the Inside Await and VIP tours. Both San Diego Zoo tours are available for individual buyout right at present.

You lot'll be led into keeper-only areas and get closer to animals than guests normally tin. The itinerary changes based on which theme you lot cull or, in the case of the VIP tour, where your interests lie. Yet, kids honey the ability to become all of their called-for questions about animals and creature intendance answered past keepers and staff. You can notice a San Diego Zoo tickets discount right hither.

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*By texting the word SDZOO to 1-833-490-0799 you lot agree to receive automated promotional messages with how to secure my deeper ticket disbelieve and this agreement isn't a condition of any purchase. Msg and data rates may apply. 2 msg/mo. Respond STOP to cancel. Read my total privacy policy.


iv. La Jolla Leopard Sharks

Two snorkelers swim toward a large group of leopard sharks.

La Jolla leopard sharks begin to get in at La Jolla Shores Embankment in June. They stay in the surface area as belatedly as Dec and numbers ordinarily height in August and September. So, if you're going out of your style to see them, these are the 2 best months to visit.

Significant female leopard sharks have been coming hither for decades. Scientists recently learned that it's basically because of sheer convenience. The warm shallow ocean water helps speed up the incubation process. Plus, they have a nearby nutrient source in the nearby La Jolla Coulee. It's win-win for them and why information technology'southward the largest almanac aggregation of leopard sharks in the world.

Bring your snorkel gear to head out on your own. Or, book a special leopard shark snorkeling tour during superlative months. You can sometimes just stand in articulatio genus-deep water during Baronial and September near The Marine Room restaurant and they'll swim around you.

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five. Living Coast Discovery Center

Notation: Temporarily closed.

Kids on a field trip stick their arms in a tough pull with rays.
You tin feed bat rays — this is from my daughter's school field trip.

More than animal encounters in San Diego look at Living Coast Discovery Middle, merely 15 minutes south of downtown. The goal of the nonprofit middle is to connect visitors with our coastal Southern California flora and fauna in order to inspire mindfulness when it comes to caring for our surroundings.

When it's open up, you can volume private animal encounters or join a group animal encounter for a nominal extra fee. Options include reptile come across and greets, feeding rays, meeting raptors or parrots, and more. You can as well check the schedule for daily animate being feedings.


6. Blue or Grayness Whale Watching

A whale tail sticking out of the ocean with a boat of onlookers in the distance

It's possible to go whale watching in San Diego about twelvemonth-circular. The two primary seasons are gray whale watching seasons in the winter and spring, and blueish whale watching season in the summer and autumn. Humpback whales hang out in our ocean year-round. You may also see fin whales and others like this beluga whale that mystified scientists.

In addition to spotting whales, these tours can be a spectacular way to spend a twenty-four hour period inadvertently sightseeing from the water. If you depart from the San Diego Bay, yous'll laissez passer the Coronado Bridge and USS Midway among other landmarks. You're also probable to also run into sea lions, birds, fish, and other sea life.


7. San Diego Tide Pools

A sea anemone in a La Jolla tide pool.
A ocean anemone in the La Jolla tide pools at Dike Rock.

One of my favorite naturally-occurring animal encounters San Diego has to offer is winter tide pooling. Check the tide calendars for daytime minus tides and then head out to our San Diego tide pools. In these habitats, yous'll see hermit crabs, sea anemones, small fish, sea slugs, 2-spot octopus (rare but they hide), snails, and more.

I recommend tide puddle tours led by Birch Aquarium naturalists who are trained to spot creatures that you may not know to wait for.

eight. Birch Aquarium Tide Pools and Tours

Best San Diego Museums: Birch Aquarium

When it's non tide pool season, head up to Birch Aquarium at Scripps. Human being-made tide pools on their outdoor terrace, which as well boasts a panoramic body of water view, house many sea creatures that we run across in naturally-occurring Southern California tide pools. Docents are available to facilitate safe touching and you can check the daily schedule for tide pool feedings.

Also, during normal times check their offsite programming which includes whale watching tours, leopard shark snorkeling tours, the already-mentioned tide pool tours, summer camps, pier walks, behind-the-scenes tours, and much more.


9. Grunion Runs

A grunion swims out of the ocean on to the sand at night.

Grunion runs in San Diego between March and September are worth staying awake for. These skinny, silvery, glace fish actually leave the water to lay eggs in the sand. Forecasters predict their arrival well in advance. They exit the water every bit our highest tides of the twelvemonth start to recede, leaving plenty of wet sand behind.

You'll need to adhere to the ii seasons. One is an open season where you lot're permitted to catch grunion with a valid fishing license. Airtight season ways that y'all can simply observe their activity. Grunion prefers spawning on sandy beaches like North Pacific Beach and La Jolla Shores Beach. Avert trying to see them on the rockier beaches.

I recommend bringing a camping headlamp because you'll demand a small light source to see them. It'due south easy to drop smartphones in the water — I've seen it happen.


10. Snorkeling in the La Jolla Underwater Park

A Garibaldi fish swims through seagrass in the La Jolla Underwater Park.
The Garibaldi is California's state fish.

Exterior of leopard shark flavour, scuba diving and snorkeling in San Diego are very pop. Thank the La Jolla Underwater Park with its kelp beds, submarine canyons, reefs, and sandy flats that are total of marine life. Visibility underwater can reach up to 30 feet which is unusual for Southern California.

You lot may find a friendly ocean lion swim up to y'all in improver to bounding main turtles (if you lot know where to look), squid, rays, and a variety of other fish. There's no need to swim very far into the body of water to encounter sea life. Novices tin walk correct from La Jolla Cove or La Jolla Shores beaches with their snorkel gear. This is one of my favorite outdoor activities in San Diego that I retrieve is often disregarded.


11. Butterfly Farms

Visit Butterfly Farms betwixt April and November to detect the flurries of pretty butterflies born, raised, and studied in the 3000-square-pes Vivarium, which guests may walk into. The research performed here supports Monarch and other native butterfly conservation.

During whatever time of the twelvemonth, cease into the adjacent Luca Micaela Nursery. They specialize in nectar and host plants for pollinators so y'all can pick up some lovely milkweed for your garden.


12. Nurtured by Nature Swimming with Otters

I've tried to make reservations to swim with Asian Small-Clawed Otters at Nurtured by Nature several times. This unique animate being encounter in San Diego sells out quickly, thanks to some national media features.

These swims help support beast care, but you tin feel good well-nigh the price. Nurtured by Nature is a Make-A-Wish Foundation partner. Follow them on Facebook to see photos of smiling families enjoying what I would call some much-needed animal therapy. How can you not laugh when wiggly otters swim and climb all over you?

Part of the 3-hour experience involves feeding or interacting with other animals, including armadillo, porcupine, kangaroo, sloth, lemurs, and more than. If you're looking for a sloth meet in San Diego, this is the place.


13. California Wolf Eye

California Wolf Middle is one of the two beast encounters in San Diego to finish at on a 24-hour interval trip to Julian. (Oasis Camel Dairy mentioned below is the second.) They're a sanctuary defended to rehabilitating and releasing wolves. Part of their mission includes teaching people how to live in harmony with them.

The new Julian Company Center and Nature Shop in the heart of the downtown expanse showcases the California Wolf Center's work. To tour the nearby Conservation Center, where the several packs of gray wolves alive, you'll need to brand a reservation.


14. Oasis Camel Dairy

Did yous know that camel milk is really good for your skin? Oasis Camel Dairy specializes in nourishing soaps, lip balms, and other skincare products that people swear by. However, you can stop in during special effect times similar once-monthly Open up Farm Days to meet and ride on the camels.

Book a Private Tour, to also feed apple pops to the camels and see other animals living in the sanctuary like sheep, turkeys, and parrots. It's just off of the main road to Julian, with plenty of signage to guide you.


15. Lions Tigers & Bears Exotic Brute Sanctuary

Lions Tigers & Bears is an exotic creature sanctuary in Alpine, about 45 minutes from downtown San Diego. Over 60 rescued exotic animals live in this prophylactic and nurturing surroundings.

Here, you can book i of the most daring animal encounters in San Diego — the Feed with a Keeper Experience. On this 2-60 minutes tour, you lot'll encounter large cats and other exotic animals similar bears, llamas, sheep, and peacocks. You'll too be able to choose a big cat or comport to help feed! To visit, you will demand to volume a bout, member for a day, or VIP experience in advance.


16. Falconry in La Jolla and Alpine

A rare opportunity to interact with a Harris's hawk in La Jolla.
A shot from our falconry lesson in La Jolla.

Yes, you can take falconry lessons in San Diego. Majestic raptors will actually take off from and land on your glove. I took my lesson with Sky Falconry, who offers falconry classes and militarist walks now on their beautiful Alpine ranch (I took my lesson in La Jolla).

Or, you can book with Total Raptor Experience at their Ramona site or at Torrey Pines Gliderport.


17. Children'due south Nature Retreat

Children'south Nature Retreat in Tall, California is dwelling house to over 130 animals from effectually the world including zebra, bison, miniature horses, mini cows, Friesians horses, camels, tortoises, peacocks, pigs and more than. Many of the animals are rescued. The goal is to provide a place for kids to bond with them and grade a deeper appreciation for nature.

General admission provides animate being interactions from exterior of the enclosures. You tin upgrade your day to include interaction inside your favorite animal enclosures. Other encounters include the opportunity to shadow and aid a keeper for a full mean solar day, which includes enough of brute interaction. Y'all tin likewise book guided tours and backside-the-scenes tours.

Your visit also helps fund The Children'south Nature Retreat Foundation'south other projects. In line with their mission to foster a dearest of learning in kids, they help families in Burkina Faso, Due west Africa receive access to pre-school through loftier school didactics.


18. Wild Wonders Educational Programming (They Tin Come to You)

Over 120 rescued, owner-surrendered, confiscated, and non-releasable creature ambassadors live at Wild Wonders in Bonsall. In fact, you may accept seen owner Jackie Navarro and some of the animals on Oprah, The Tonight Prove, and elsewhere on the big and modest screens.

The 5-acre facility hosts camps, field trips, special experiences, and a wide variety of educational programming. Brute experiences in San Diego hither are themed effectually interacting with a particular animal. Options include Encounter and Greet a Cheetah (no interaction), Come across and Feed a Bearcat, Cat Training 101, Fennec Foxes and Friends, and more.

You tin can also book an education programme where they come to you. I've attended several events and meetings with their beast ambassadors in attendance.


19. SeaWorld San Diego Animal Interactions

A dolphin greets waving guests at SeaWorld San Diego.
Dolphin Encounter (Photograph credit: Mike Aguilera/SeaWorld San Diego)

Another popular place for creature interactions in San Diego is at SeaWorld through their animal tours and in-water programs. Yes, you tin arrive the water with a trainer and a beluga whale or dolphins. Or, stay dry and enjoy interacting with a beluga, dolphin, sea lion, or walrus.

You'll need to book these fun family unit experiences in advance. The cost is in add-on to your SeaWorld San Diego tickets. What is included are the Explorer'southward Reef bear on pools located near the entrance are included in access. Kids dearest touching the bat rays, reef sharks, and more (washing stations are nearby).

twenty. Bird Watching in San Diego

Did you know that San Diego is home to over 515 species of birds? Some of these stop here during almanac migrations downward the Pacific Flyway, which passes through San Diego.

Proceed an eye out for birds as yous sightsee in places like Cabrillo National Monument and Torrey Pines Land Natural Reserve. The Living Declension Discovery Center exhibits some of our local birds, but its location in the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge is habitation to over 200 species. Other popular areas for birding include the Tijuana River National Estuariane Reserve and San Elijo Lagoon.

San Diego Audubon Society hosts birding trips at diverse locations across the county.

Bonus: San Diego Fairy Shrimp

A tiny San Diego Fairy Shrimp swims in a vernal pool.
USFWS Pacific Southwest, Photograph past Joanna Gilkeson/USFWS. / CC By

These endangered crustaceans pop up in seasonal vernal pools throughout the county that class later on rainstorms. About 7-14 days after the vernal pools appear, tiny and translucent San Diego Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta sandiegonensis) hatch from eggs or cysts that stay dormant in the ground during dry seasons. The cysts are hearty plenty to survive droughts and wildfires.

San Diego Fairy Shrimp only live equally long every bit the vernal pools stay formed. While they're alive, they provide a valuable food source for reptiles, insects, and migratory birds. Their role in the nutrient concatenation is part of the reason why great lengths are taken to preserve vernal pools.

You tin see some vernal pools in Ramona Grasslands Canton Preserve, though many across the country are protected and inaccessible to the public. It's non the easiest of animal encounters in San Diego to enjoy. Perchance, just keep an center out for vernal pools when you lot walk our park trails after information technology rains. Run across what types of creatures you tin spot — maybe you'll get lucky and run across San Diego Fairy Shrimp.

Source: https://lajollamom.com/animal-encounters-in-san-diego-california/

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