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After more than a century of munching on her favorite foods of romaine lettuce and cactus fruit, beloved Galapagos tortoise Gramma, the oldest resident of the San Diego Zoo, has died. Gramma was born in her native habitat and was estimated to be about 141 years old, zoo officials said. She died Nov. 20. It's not clear exactly when the tortoise arrived at the San Diego Zoo, but zoo officials said she came from the Bronx Zoo in either 1928 or 1931 as part of their first group of Galapagos tortoises. As the world changed around her, she delighted visitors...

Veterinarians have since closely monitored the gorillas to make sure they have been eating and drinking enough to recover on their own. The park north of San Diego has been closed to the public as part of California’s lockdown efforts to curb coronavirus cases. Peterson said one of the gorillas, a 49-year-old silverback named Winston, had pneumonia, likely caused by the virus, as well as heart disease. She said Winston was put on antibiotics and heart medication, and received an antibody treatment — a therapy to block the virus from infecting cells. Peterson said some of the gorillas will get...

It's not just humans who have been impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic. Pet cats have tested positive, as has a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York. On Monday, the San Diego Zoo announced that members of its gorilla troop have COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. The gorillas reside at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, a 1,800-acre facility that houses rhinos, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes and the endangered gorillas.

The little critter doesn’t have a name yet, and its caretakers have yet to determine its sex. But they believe the puggle hatched on Valentine’s Day and say it is doing just fine. The puggle still spends its days slumbering in the safety of a dark burrow in the ground. Its mother stays nearby and visits the burrow to nurse her baby every three to six days.

San Diego Zoo The Zoo's animal care staff observed Bai Yun give birth at 9:57 p.m. via a close circuit camera installed in the Giant Panda Research Station birthing den Aug. 2. The gender of the newborn will not be known for sometime. SAN DIEGO – Bai Yun, the San Diego Zoo's 13-year-old giant panda, gave birth to a cub Tuesday night after three hours of what doctors called "uneventful" labor. Panda Team Leader Don Lindburg said Bai Yun immediately picked up the newborn and placed it on her chest, shielding it from view behind her massive arms. For the...

PETA's silence, hypocrisy By: RICK REISS - For The Californian Zoos have always been popular with the public. My family and I are longtime members of the San Diego Zoological Society. A trip to the zoo is the best way to see up close wild and exotic animals from around the world. In just a day at the zoo, you can see critters from tropical rain forests to African savannas without risking exposure to Third World diseases and genocidal regimes. While no zoo is perfect, most are nonprofit organizations striving to preserve endangered species through care and captive breeding programs....