It's Always Sunny in LA: #2: The Los Angeles Zoo

I have always been a huge fan of zoos. Especially living in a city, zoos are one of the only ways I actually get to see animals besides the standard city pigeons and chihuahuas in bedazzled tutus. I love the San Diego Zoo (and the Wild Animal Park!), and have been meaning to check out the LA Zoo for years but just have never gotten around to it.

So last Sunday my amazing, always-a-good-sport boyfriend and I made our way out to the zoo, on the far end of Griffith Park. As we entered the zoo, Ronny said he wanted to see the pandas first (of course)... and it was then that I had to break it to him that there were no pandas at this zoo. The look on his face showed me that that was the only reason he had agreed to come. Well, at that point I was just hoping the new "Elephants of Asia" exhibit could somehow make up for the lack of pandas (hint: they didn't, as if they could).

Despite that first hurdle of disappointment, I had high hopes. The map made the zoo look huge, and all the directional signs kept pointing us toward pictures of zebras, koalas and other cuddly animals. However, 10 minutes into our walk and I could hardly hide my disappointment. I know it may be an unfair comparison, but where the San Diego Zoo really excels is making the animal habitats look spacious and natural. The LA Zoo hardly seemed to put much effort at all into this. The hippo pool is 3 times the length of the actual hippo. I wonder if he can even turn around :( The brown bear was sweltering in the mid morning sun, with only a tiny pile of quickly melting snow to even give him a hint of his "real" home. The zebra had a smaller corral than most rodeo arenas. I mean, it was sad. I guess most zoos really are, but only being to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park in recent memory kind of let me forget how small, cramped, and "caged" the animals really are.

Don't get me wrong, there were some highlights. The adorably cuddly koala bear high in his tree, back to the crowd. You do you, little koala. The perfectly camera-ready zebra, who saw me aiming my camera and posed perfectly so I could get a good shot. No joke, as soon as I took the picture he started moving around again. The mountain goats perched high up on the rocks, doing down at everyone with a "holier than thou" expression (though I will never be able to take them seriously with those ridiculous goatees.. I mean really guys). And then there was my personal favorite, the giraffes. Their habitat seemed to have a bit of breathing room, and lots of tall trees to reach up and eat from. I saw the tallest giraffe in his 16-foot glory stretching his 20-inch black tongue up into the branches.'

The "Elephants of Asia" exhibit, which I have seen billboards for all over the city for months, was a big disappointment. They seemed to put a big emphasis on educating people on the elephants from different regions (India, China, Thailand, etc) which was cool, but the elephants were literally stepping on each other's toes! They just looked so sad.

Overall, I'm glad I went, but I definitely won't be returning to the LA Zoo. If you want a good zoo experience, there is none better than the two in San Diego (plus, they have pandas). But, if you insist on checking the LA Zoo out for yourself, make sure to arrive early. We got there around 11am, and by the time we left at 1pm, we could hardly walk there were so many people and kids.