Official Blog of the L.A. Zoo

Learn about exciting Zoo developments, including animal updates, events, expert perspectives, and field reports on our conservation initiatives at the Zoo and around the world.

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Student Trip Diary: Conservation Education in Brazil

The opportunity to apply to the Duttenhaver Conservation Field Program was given to me through my high school. I had learned this program allowed students to participate in environmental conservation studies around the world, and in 2024 they were sending students to Brazil. The scientific question being studied: Are animals reinhabiting reforested areas? When I was accepted to the program, I was in complete disbelief.

Student Trip Diary: Conservation Education in Brazil Read more

Students take a group photo with a waterfall in the background.

New Sensory Support Room

by Autumn Hilden In a major next step in our work to create the most comfortable and inclusive experience possible when visiting the Los Angeles Zoo, we are now proud to offer a mobile sensory support room in partnership with the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation and the Georgina Fredrick Children’s Foundation. For many individuals—particularly those with autism, dementia, PTSD, and other similar conditions—the noise and activity of public spaces can become overwhelming.

New Sensory Support Room Read more

Interior of a sensory-supportive trailer with dark walls, large cushions and dim lighting

The Obscure Obscurus

Do you ever lie awake at night pondering the fate of Crotalus willardi obscurus? If so, you have something in common with Byron Wusstig, acting curator of ectotherms at the Los Angeles Zoo. Of course, most readers will never have heard of this little-known reptile, but Wusstig and his colleagues are hoping to change that.

The Obscure Obscurus Read more

A rattlesnake with its body coiled and partly covered in dirt

In With the New!

Zoo Director and CEO Denise M. Verret has been sworn in as the one hundredth Chair of the Board of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the accrediting body of the Los Angeles Zoo and the global standard of excellence for zoos and aquariums worldwide. “Being the 100th chair and the first black woman to serve in this role is not lost on me,” Verret says. “It’s an incredible milestone and opportunity.”

In With the New! Read more

Two women stand onstage during a conference, one has her arm around the other

Raising Our Voices: Amplifying Teen Voices for a Just & Sustainable Los Angeles

The Teen Council for Conservation serves as an equitable pathway for young Angelenos to voice their concerns and actively engage in developing meaningful solutions. It is a transformative journey, evolving each year with new cohorts working towards creating a just and sustainable world where people and wildlife thrive, together.

Raising Our Voices: Amplifying Teen Voices for a Just & Sustainable Los Angeles Read more

TCC students hike in Catalina Island

Just Browsing

Did you know plants in the Zoo, around Griffith Park, and throughout many cities in Los Angeles County help feed your favorite animals at the Zoo? Cut branches with leaves, soft shoots, flowers, and fruit called are “browse” and are among the fresh food enjoyed by many species who call the Zoo home. Cutting, transporting, and managing browse is part of animal keepers’ jobs, and each animal in their care has special requirements and favorite browse.

Just Browsing Read more

Juvenile rhino Marshall chomps on a thin leafy branch.
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