San Diego Zoo

Home to 4,000 rare and endangered animals representing more than 800 species and subspecies, the San Diego Zoo features numerous exhibits including the Ituri Forest, a rain forest with buffalo, hippos, spot-necked otters, monkeys and birds; the Scripps rain forest aviary; Gorilla Tropics, a 2.5-acre simulation of an African rain forest; the Polar Bear Plunge, with its underwater viewing room; a children's zoo, featuring critters not found elsewhere in the zoo; the Bonobos enclosure, a 6,000-square-foot area within Gorilla Tropics that playful pygmy chimpanzees call home; the 65-foot-high The Owens Rain Forest Aviary, offering an up-close look at more than 200 birds representing 60 species; among others.