WEBSITE DESIGNED WITH KIDS IN MIND: SAN DIEGO ZOO KIDS

Videos, Photos, Games Deliver Animal Fun, Facts for Families

There is always something new at the San Diego Zoo - and the same goes for the San Diego Zoo Kids website. The new kids.sandiegozoo.org site is full of photos, videos and interactive games and is designed for children ages 3-11. The format and features include nearly everything a kid could want to know about animals in an easy-to-navigate site. And for fun, kids can switch between a zoo and safari theme as they browse the site.

     "We designed the "San Diego Zoo Kids" site as a way for children to connect to animals and their habitats, even when they're not able to visit the Zoo or the Safari Park," said Debra Erickson, director of communications and interpretation for San Diego Zoo Global. "We expect kids and their parents will visit this site whenever they want to learn something new about creatures and their features or have questions about wildlife."

     The site focuses on different characteristics of animals, with features like "The Nose Knows," which is about all the fascinating types of noses found on animals. The "Fantastic Frogs" feature shares with children the amazing colors and varying sizes of the world's amphibians. In "Precious Pandas," kids can learn about these rare black and white bears and what makes the species so unique, like the fact that they're carnivores but eat mostly bamboo - a plant!

     For those in the mood to play, the newest online game from the San Diego Zoo is "Safari Park Adventure," which challenges players to become a ranger and protect wildlife. Players take a virtual safari and have to collect 30 different cards along the way to achieve the rank of ranger. Once a ranger, they can move on to protect polar bears in the Polar Bear Plunge game or journey through time by playing Elephant Odyssey.

     Each month the site adds new features and videos, including profiles of jobs at the Zoo and the Safari Park, animal-themed arts and crafts projects kids can make at home and information about how to protect and save  threatened and endangered species such as the polar bear and California condor.

     This site is also a great place to watch the animals at the Zoo and the Park in real time - it has links to all the animal cams on grounds so viewers can watch elephants, orangutans, pandas, and polar bears play, eat and sleep any time of the day.