A unique off-site opportunity for team building includes helping with landscaping and gardening followed by an afternoon to enjoy the Zoo.

Celebrate the holiday season by adopting the animals who help Santa deliver presents to all the children in the land! In North America, these animals are called caribou in the wild and reindeer if domesticated. They are the only deer species to be widely domesticated. Reindeer have many adaptations that make them well-suited for their life in cold climates. Two thick layers of fur help keep them warm in freezing temperatures, and their noses will heat cold air before entering their lungs. In the winter, reindeer footpads shrink and harden so that the rim of the hoof is exposed, allowing them to cut into the ice and snow for a firmer grip. In the spring, those footpads expand, giving them extra traction on the soft, wet ground.

Customize your own Basic level Adopt-an-Animal package! Have a specific animal in mind and don't see an option for it? This is the package for you! Simply fill out the form with all the information, and a team member from the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens will contact you to begin building your custom Basic level Adopt-an-Animal kit.

Thank you for joining us at ZooFest 2019! We appreciate your support of our organization and for helping us achieve our mission of connecting people with wildlife, inspiring caring for nature and advancing conservation action.

Alpaca fur is very soft and considered a prized material for artisans and crafters. As the second strongest animal fiber, it is also extremely durable. The color of their fur can also vary greatly.

The bald eagle was chosen as the national bird of the United States in 1782. These birds are found only in North America, and are one of seven species of sea eagles. Bald eagles were considered endangered in the 1970s, but thanks to widespread recovery efforts they were removed from the Endangered Species List in 2007.

Many famous bears were inspired by black bears, including the teddy bear, Winnie the Pooh, and Smokey the Bear. In addition, black bears play a prominent role in many Native American cultures.

Chimpanzees are more closely related genetically to humans – sharing 98.4% of our DNA – than they are to gorillas!

Flamingos belong to one of the oldest bird groups alive. There are six types of flamingo, including five separate species. And there are 17 vertebrae in a flamingo neck; humans have only seven.

The San Francisco Zoo and its partners are working together to keep these amazing frogs in their high mountain habitat by collecting early-stage froglets and tadpoles and rearing them in captivity.

Reticulated giraffes form loosely organized groups of two to 20 animals. Apparently giraffes have “friends,” and will associate with certain individuals in the group more often than others.

The lowland gorilla is found primarily in lowland tropical forests, particularly where there is dense ground-level vegetation, and in swamp forests.

Grizzly bears, once prevalent in California, have been extinct in this state since the 1920s. They have been classified as a "threatened" species in the United States since 1975. Our two female grizzly bears were orphaned as cubs in Montana.

The name hippopotamus means “river horse” although they are most closely related to a family of animals that includes whales.

Red kangaroos are the largest living marsupials, with males weighing up to 180 pounds and standing up to five feet tall, while females are much smaller, weighing up to 65 pounds.

Ring-tailed lemurs are among the best known, most easily recognized, and most intensively studied of all lemurs, and are the only surviving semi-terrestrial diurnal lemur in Madagascar.

There's no doubt, lions are spectacular animals. Our pride of lions, made up of mother, father and son, is consistently one of the most popular species in the Zoo.

These birds are able to eat some poisonous fruits due to their habit of eating river clay, which appears to neutralize the toxins.

As the largest tree-dwelling animal and the second largest ape species on the planet, the Bornean orangutan can be found in the jungles of the island Borneo. While orangutans could once be found throughout Southeast Asia, they now inhabit only 2 islands: Borneo and Sumatra.

The river otter’s muscular tail and broad webbed feet make the otter an excellent swimmer and diver, able to remain under water for six to eight minutes. The otter can close its nostrils and ears under water, and uses the sensitive whiskers around its snout to help locate prey.

The Magellanic penguin is one of 17 penguin species, all of which live in the southern hemisphere. The climate in this species’ range is not that different from our climate here in northern California.

More than half the world's rabbit population resides in North America. They are also native to southwestern Europe, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands of Japan, and parts of Africa and South America.

Red pandas are native to the eastern Himalayas and China, but did you know the North American raccoon is its distant cousin?

An adult black rhinoceros can weigh up to 3,000 pounds with a body length of 10 to 12.5 feet. A thick, wrinkled, tough hide protects the rhino as it pushes its way through the thorny acacia trees and bushes it likes to eat.

The giant hairy scorpion gets its common names from the brown hairs that cover its body. These hairs help it to detect vibration in the soil.

Southern two-toed sloths spend nearly all their lives high in the canopy. They are extremely clumsy on land but are surprisingly good swimmers. Sloths are the slowest mammal on the planet and will sleep from 15 to 20 hours a day.

The snow leopard is the only exclusively alpine cat in the world. This rare nocturnal animal is seldom seen, and was photographed in the wild for the first time in 1971. The Zoo has had a very successful breeding history of snow leopards, producing 42 snow leopards since 1958.

The radiated tortoise is one of the rarest, largest, and most beautiful tortoises in the world.

Webbing between their toes, when spread, enables Sumatran tigers to be very fast swimmers. They will often run hoofed prey, who are much slower swimmers, into the water.

Mexican gray wolves are the smallest gray wolf subspecies and are approximately half of the size of the North American gray wolf. Despite the name “gray” wolf, their coats are a mix of gray, rust, brown, black and cream.

Grant’s zebra can be found in the grasslands, savannas, and open country of Africa, including Southern Sudan and Ethiopia, down to central Angola and eastern South Africa. Grant’s zebras are also known as plains zebra or common zebra.

Your support enables us to provide top-notch veterinary care, facilitate award-winning education programs, and support conservation efforts both locally and globally. Join our growing community committed to advancing the Zoo’s mission!

Thank you for joining us at Fur Ball 2019! We appreciate your support of the San Francisco Zoo, and for helping us achieve our mission of connecting people with wildlife, inspiring caring for nature and advancing conservation action.