A recent trip to the Wild Animal Park brought us to a very different part of the Park than I had been before. The Park sits on 1,800 acres, but only 900 of those acres have been developed for the actual park portion. The other half is set aside for conservation. It’s a preserve for local Southern California wildlife and is part of the Multiple Species Conservation Program. The Multiple Species Conservation Program is part of local legislation that is committed to preserving San Diego County’s habitats and wildlife. The Wild Animal Park is obliged to protect, monitor, and maintain their 900 acres of natural preserve. The natural preserve provides a home for local animal species and is an important part of a system of protected habitats that allow for animals to move from habitat to habitat in a set of connected corridors. This land is only allowed for some off-site breeding and minimum public viewing. The Park’s mule ride is one way you can view this scenic and special piece of habitat.

The Wild Animal Park’s wildlife preserve is home to numerous species. San Diego is considered a “hot spot,” a place of high biodiversity, just like the Serengeti in Africa! Here in San Diego County, we have 144 mammal species, 492 bird species, and 82 reptile species. There are also a wide variety of habitats in our county like coastal sage scrub, chaparral, desert, grassland, forests, and mountains all within the ideal Mediterranean climate of Southern California. Despite this amount of biodiversity, this habitat is the most endangered in the continental United States and vanishing quickly. The ideal 78-degree weather that allows for high levels of biodiversity also attracts people and development. Human development is the largest threat to San Diego County’s natural habitats. Some species that live in coastal sage scrub habitat are endangered only because their habitat is endangered. The orange-throated whiptail lizard is one species that only thrives in coastal sage scrub. When development destroys this delicate habitat, these colorful lizards are wiped out because they are specialist species that eat only termites in trees. The natural habitats of San Diego have many unique attributes and researchers at the Park are working hard to protect it. There’s so much to 900 acres of Southern Californian land!

Curtis, Conservation Team

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.