Living Desert Zoo and Gardens facts for kids
The gardens
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| Date opened | March 1, 1970 |
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| Location | Palm Desert, California, United States |
| Land area | 1,800 acres (730 ha) (1,720 acres (700 ha) left in natural state) |
| Coordinates | 33°41′45″N 116°22′13″W / 33.69583°N 116.37028°W |
| No. of animals | 430 |
| No. of species | 150 |
| Annual visitors | 350,000 |
| Memberships | AZA, WAZA |
The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is a special place in Palm Desert, California, USA. It's a desert botanical garden and a zoo all in one! You can find it in the Sonoran Desert area, near the Santa Rosa Mountains and Palm Springs, California.
This amazing place used to be called the Living Desert Museum. It has been a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 1983. It is also part of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The Living Desert helps bring animals back to their natural homes. For example, they have helped bighorn sheep return to local mountains. They also helped bring Arabian oryx back to Oman.
Contents
Discover the History and Cool Exhibits
The Living Desert started in 1970 as a wild area of about 360 acres. It was created by people from the Palm Springs Desert Museum. At first, it was a place to protect desert plants.
By 1974, the gardens also had a few animals. These included kit foxes, tortoises, lizards, and two bighorn sheep. Soon after, in 1974–75, they built the Mojave Garden. This garden looks just like the Mojave Desert!
Over the years, more and more cool things were added. They built greenhouses and even a model train display. Many new animals came to live here, too.
Here are some of the animals that have joined the Living Desert family:
- Rhim gazelles (1981)
- Mountain lions, bobcats, and badgers (1993)
- Meerkats, cheetahs, and warthogs (1995)
- Striped hyenas (1998)
- Giraffes and ostriches (2002)
In 2007, the 'Amphibians on the Edge' exhibit opened. It shows many different kinds of frogs, toads, and salamanders. In 2009, an Endangered Species Carousel was built. A special exhibit for Peninsular pronghorn opened in 2010.
You can even ride camels at the Living Desert! It's a popular attraction called Camel Rides. There's also an exhibit called Monarch of the Desert on the North America Trail. A new home for lions, called Lion Ridge, is still being built. The Living Desert is a non-profit organization. It is one of only six private zoos in the United States that are approved by the AZA.
What Are the Goals of the Living Desert?
The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens has a very special purpose. It is all about protecting and teaching people about the deserts of the world.
Their main goals include:
- Teaching people about the environment.
- Helping wild animals that are hurt.
- Growing and protecting desert plants.
- Bringing back natural habitats.
- Breeding animals from Africa and the Sonoran Desert. This includes the famous desert bighorn sheep that live in the area.
Explore the Amazing Gardens and Plant Habitats
The Living Desert has many different gardens. They show you what various desert plant communities look like.
North American Desert Gardens
These gardens recreate different desert ecosystems from North America:
- Mojave Desert: See Joshua trees and other plants from the Eastern Mojave.
- Chihuahuan Desert: Explore plants from the Rio Grande and northern Mexican Plateau.
- Sonoran Desert: Discover plants from Sonora, Mexico, the Yuma Desert, and Baja California.
- Colorado Desert: This part of the Sonoran Desert shows plants from desert mountains. It also has the Cahuilla Ethnobotanic Garden. This garden shows plants used by the local Cahuilla people. You can also see areas that look like the Lower Colorado River Valley. There are even natural springs, ponds, and riverbank habitats.
Specialized Focus Gardens
The Living Desert also has many unique gardens that focus on specific types of plants:
- Agave Garden: Home to over 100 kinds of Agave plants from all over the Western Hemisphere.
- Aloe Garden: Features many aloes from Africa.
- East African Garden: One of the largest collections of East African plants and trees in North America.
- Euphorbia Garden: Shows different African Euphorbia plants.
- Aviary Oasis: A desert palm oasis with California fan palms. It surrounds a walk-in aviary where birds fly freely.
- Barrel Cactus garden: See different kinds of Ferocactus species.
- Hummingbird Garden: Filled with plants that attract hummingbirds.
- Johnston Cactus Garden: Displays many different cacti.
- Madagascar Garden: Features unique xeric plants that only grow in Madagascar.
- Mallow Garden: A small collection of desert mallows.
- McDonald Butterfly and Wildflower Garden: Has plants that attract migrating butterflies.
- Mexican Columnar Cactus Garden: Tall, sculptural cacti.
- Ocotillo Garden: Shows nine of the twelve known ocotillo species.
- Opuntia Garden: Features various prickly pear and cholla plants.
- Palm Garden: Hundreds of palm trees from over fifty species worldwide.
- Primitive Garden: Plants from the Jurassic period, like cycads and ferns.
- Sage Garden: Different Salvia species that are good for honey bees.
- Sheep Food Garden: Plants that desert bighorn sheep like to eat.
- Smoke Tree Garden: Local smoke trees in a natural desert wash.
- Sonoran Arboretum: A designed garden with trees from the greater Sonoran Desert.
- Wortz Demonstration Garden: Shows how to design a Southwest landscape.
- Yucca Garden: Features different Yucca species in a special garden design.
Other Fun Features
The Palo Verde Garden Center started by selling plants grown from the garden's own collection. Now, anyone can buy these unique plants. Many of them are hard to find anywhere else!
The Zoo and Gardens also has one of the world's largest LGB model railroad layouts. It has about 3,000 feet of track! It even has the world's longest wooden G-scale model trestle, which is over 202 feet long. This trestle lets trains travel almost 2 feet down between parts of the track. The trains first ran during the WildLights holiday program at night. But since 2001, you can see them running all year long, even during the day!
Images for kids
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Barn owls at the zoo
See also
In Spanish: Jardín botánico y zoológico Living Desert para niños
