Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

The gardens
Date opened	1970
Location	Palm Desert, California, United States
Land area	1,200 acres (490 ha)
Coordinates	33.702412°N 116.374129°E / 33.702412; 116.374129
Memberships	AZA
Website	www.livingdesert.org

Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, formerly the Living Desert Museum, is a public desert botanical garden and a zoo located in Palm Desert, Riverside County, California, United States. They are in the Sonoran Desert of the Coachella Valley and Santa Rosa Mountains foothills near Palm Springs, California.

History and exhibits

Barn owls at the zoo

The gardens of the Low Desert - Colorado Desert were established in 1970 as a 360 acres (1.5 km²) wilderness preserve by the Palm Springs Desert Museum. By 1974 the gardens housed a Kit Fox, tortoises, lizards, and two Bighorn Sheep. In 1974-75 the Mojave Garden was built, a replica of the High Desert - Mojave Desert. Additional facilities have gradually been constructed, including greenhouses, model trains, and designed landscape gardens. New animal introductions include: Rhim Gazelles (1981); mountain lions, bobcats and badgers (1993); meerkats; cheetahs and warthogs (1995); Striped Hyenas (1998); giraffes and ostriches (2002). The 'Amphibians on the Edge' exhibit shows a variety of different species of frogs, toads, and salamanders (2007). The Endangered Species Carousel was constructed in Fall 2009, and the Peninsular Pronghorn Exhibit was constructed in Fall 2010. The Living Desert also features an attraction called Camel Rides which allows visitors to ride camels. The exhibit, Monarch of the Desert, was constructed on the North America Trail. Lion Ridge, the habitat for lions, is still incomplete. The Living Desert is one of six accredited (AZA) private Zoos in the United States and operates as a non-profit.

Animals in the Living Desert

• Hornbill, Ground Abyssinian
• Woodpecker, Acorn
• Tortoise, African Spurred
• Porcupine, African Crested
• Hedgehog, African Pygmy
• Dog, African Wild
• Badger, American
• Cattle, Longhorn Ankole
• Oryx, Arabian
• Wild Cat, Arabian
• Python, Ball
• Fox, Bat-Eared
• Dragon, Bearded
• Pupfish, Desert
• Aardwolf

Goals

Today, the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is the only American zoo and botanic garden combination dedicated solely to the deserts of the world. The programs provide environmental education, native wildlife rehabilitation, plant propagation and habitat restoration, and captive breeding of African and Sonoran Desert species, including the area's iconic Desert Bighorn Sheep.

Gardens and plant habitats

The North American desert gardens include re-creations of a variety of desert plant community ecosystems

• Mojave Desert — Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) habitat and Eastern Mojave Cima Dome Volcanic Field habitat.
• Chihuahuan Desert — Rio Grande-Big Bend (New Mexico-Texas) and northern Mexican Plateau (Mexico) habitats.
• Sonoran Desert — Sonora, Mexico Madrean foothills habitat, Yuma Desert-southwest Arizona habitat and Vizcaíno Desert-Baja California Desert habitat gardens.
• Colorado Desert (Sonoran Desert sub-region) — Desert mountains habitat of the indigenous 2,000-3,000 ft. elevation landscape, the Cahuilla Ethnobotanic Garden of the locally indigenous Cahuilla people, and focus areas representing the Lower Colorado River Valley habitat and the Colorado-Sonoran Desert natural springs, ponds, and riparian habitats.

Specialized focus Gardens include

• Agave Garden – Agaves from throughout the Western Hemisphere
• Aloe Garden – African Aloes
• Aviary Oasis – Coachella Valley native Desert Palm Oasis, with California Fan Palms (Washingtonia filifera) surrounding a walk in aviary
• Barrel Cactus Garden – Ferocactus species
• East African Garden – Large collection of native East African plants and trees, one of the larger collections of African plant species in North America
• Euphorbia Garden – African Euphorbias
• Hummingbird Garden – plants that attract Hummingbirds
• Johnston Cactus Garden – various specimen Cacti on display
• Madagascar Garden – xeric plants endemic-unique to Madagascar
• Mallow Garden – small collection of desert Mallows
• McDonald Butterfly and Wildflower Garden – Nectar (adults) and 'grazing' (larvae) plants that attract migrating Butterflies
• Mexican Columnar Cactus Garden – tall columnar cacti sculptural specimens
• Ocotillo Garden – nine of twelve known Ocotillo species
• Opuntia Garden – various Prickly Pear (Opuntia) and Cholla (Cylindropuntia) plants
• Palm Garden – several hundred Palm (Arecaceae) trees, of over fifty species from around the world
• Primitive Garden – plants from the Jurassic period - Cycads and Ferns
• Sage Garden – Salvia species of melliferous flower honey forage sage plants.
• Sheep Food Garden – plants that are food sources for Desert Bighorn Sheep
• Smoke Tree Garden – local native Smoke Trees (Psorothamnus spinosus) in a natural desert wash setting
• Sonoran Arboretum – trees from the greater Sonoran Desert region in a designed garden setting
• Wortz Demonstration Garden – Southwest landscape design display garden
• Yucca Garden – Yucca species in a designed 'strap foliage garden.'

Other features

The Zoo and Gardens features one of the world's largest LGB model railroad layouts, including the world's longest model trestle span.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium
• List of botanical gardens in the United States
• Index: Flora of the California desert regions

External link and reference

Media related to Living Desert Zoo and Gardens at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website