San Francisco Zoo

San Francisco Zoo To connect all people with wildlife, inspire caring for nature & advance conservation action

The San Francisco Zoo connects people with wildlife, inspires caring for nature and advances conservation action.

01/01/2025
12/31/2024

Here’s a quick look back at 2024! Wishing you a Happy Zoo Year and a great 2025!

The Zoo is open New Year’s Day (and every day!).

12/30/2024

Little Puffer is back on (a longer) track! After a brief hiatus, everyone’s favorite miniature steam train is back in operation, with a track extended by 1,000 feet featuring views of the eastern side of Bear Country and the upper lake. All aboard!

12/29/2024

What goes up, must come down? You’ll often find our pair of wolverines climbing on or even sleeping in their habitat’s trees!

12/26/2024

Our own Dr. Ian describes a recent CT scan on our over 10-year-old male Magellanic penguin, Rupert. In addition to our fully-staffed zoo veterinary team, we partner with many facilities, institutions and experts to provide the best of care for our animals.

12/24/2024

Our quartet of Chacoan peccaries made it to the “nice” list this year!

12/21/2024

It’s “snow” wonder we love wolverines! When they play, they play big-time!

12/20/2024

Our pair of sifaka forage for peanut treats through a wonderland of holiday-themed enrichment!

Look who just arrived! Meet our new Bactrian camel, an 8-year-old male, who recently arrived from the Blank Park Zoo! Ba...
12/19/2024

Look who just arrived!

Meet our new Bactrian camel, an 8-year-old male, who recently arrived from the Blank Park Zoo! Bactrian camels can grow over 7 feet at the hump, up to 10 feet in length and weigh up to 1,800 lbs.! Bactrian camels have two humps, unlike Dromedary camels, that have one hump. Wild Bactrian camels are critically endangered, with less than 1,000 remaining in their native ranges in China and Mongolia due to habitat loss, hunting and breeding with domestic camels. They differ from the domestic species by their overall size and the shape of their humps (wild camels have distinct triangular-shaped humps). We hope to tell the story of each species, and the work being done to save our new camel’s wild counterparts.

Our male is settling in in his new home by the Przewalski’s horses as part of our Asian Conservation Zone.

12/18/2024

Snow leopard Jimmy G got a “scent-sational” holiday treat - including a Christmas tree courtesy of Clancy’s Christmas Trees🌲! He really loved chewing on and rubbing against his tree and later checked out his gift of…more olfactory enrichment, from pumpkin spice to taco seasoning!

12/17/2024

Let the festivities begin! Some holiday cheer for black rhino Boone!

12/13/2024

We love horses! Today is National Day of the Horse, an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the role horses have played in our history, and learn about the many horse breeds that still exist today. Here’s caretaker Mary to talk about our critically endangered Przewalski’s horses.

Address

Sloat Boulevard And The Great Highway
San Francisco, CA
94132

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

4157537080

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Videos

Here’s a quick look back at 2024! Wishing you a Happy Zoo Year and a great 2025! The Zoo is open New Year’s Day (and every day!).

Little Puffer is back on (a longer) track! After a brief hiatus, everyone’s favorite miniature steam train is back in operation, with a track extended by 1,000 feet featuring views of the eastern side of Bear Country and the upper lake. All aboard!

What goes up, must come down? You’ll often find our pair of wolverines climbing on or even sleeping in their habitat’s trees!

Our own Dr. Ian describes a recent CT scan on our over 10-year-old male Magellanic penguin, Rupert. In addition to our fully-staffed zoo veterinary team, we partner with many facilities, institutions and experts to provide the best of care for our animals.

Our quartet of Chacoan peccaries made it to the “nice” list this year!

It’s “snow” wonder we love wolverines! When they play, they play big-time!

Our pair of sifaka forage for peanut treats through a wonderland of holiday-themed enrichment!

Snow leopard Jimmy G got a “scent-sational” holiday treat - including a Christmas tree courtesy of Clancy’s Christmas Trees🌲! He really loved chewing on and rubbing against his tree and later checked out his gift of…more olfactory enrichment, from pumpkin spice to taco seasoning!

Let the festivities begin! Some holiday cheer for black rhino Boone!

We love horses! Today is National Day of the Horse, an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the role horses have played in our history, and learn about the many horse breeds that still exist today. Here’s caretaker Mary to talk about our critically endangered Przewalski’s horses.

It looks like Boone is savoring the water he just drank, but in actuality, mammals like rhinos, giraffes, horses and even cats, perform what is called a flehmen response. The flehmen response functions as intra-species communications. You can see Boone inhaling with his nostrils closed and lips curled, as he is basically gathering chemical messages by transferring air containing pheromones and other scents to the vomeronasal organ, an olfactory chemosensory organ that is found between the roof of the mouth and the palate. In other words, usually this occurs with urine, as males would do this to identify the reproductive state of a female.

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Our Mission

The mission of San Francisco Zoo & Gardens is to Connect people with wildlife, inspire Caring for nature and advance Conservation action.

Open 365 days a year, San Francisco Zoo is home to more than 2,000 exotic, endangered and rescued animals in 100 acres of majestic and peaceful gardens located directly on the Pacific Coast.