San Diego Zoo Safari Park Offers a Walk on the Wild Side and a Unique Opportunity to View the Rare Przewalski Horses

Elizabeth pictured with her talking horse RajaliKa

By Elizabeth Kaye McCall

Once known as the San Diego Wild Animal Park, today's San Diego Zoo Safari Park was renamed to capitalize on safari-type options at this nearby Escondido attraction which is home to 14 of the world's rare Przewalski wild horses. One is a stallion. To date, the Park has not yet returned any of its herd or the resulting offspring directly to the wild, however they have contributed some of the Przewalski horses from the park’s herd to other institutions–those have subsequently become parents or grandparents of "P" horses returned to the wild.

World-renowned for its conservation practices and research, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has studies underway to evaluate genetic variation in Pzrewalski horses in comparison to domestic horses.

For those who like scientific details, the studies taking place involve comparison of horse genome variation at the level of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), mitochondrial DNA genome sequence analysis and ancient DNA studies.

But of course, you can simply enjoy the sight of this distinctive creature on a hillside from an open-air safari truck. Weekly behind-the-scenes visits to see the Przewalski horses are available on Sunday afternoon (3:00-5:00 p.m.) and can be booked www.sdzsafaripark.org/safaritickets/behind_the_scenes_safari.html

However, for AHP members with serious editorial interest in the Przewalski wild horses at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park, contact PR rep Dani Dodge Medlin right away! She’s offered to organize a special media visit for a limited number of journalists to see the park’s Przewalski horses!

Dani Dodge Medlin, San Diego Zoo Global PR representative
619-718-3504
DDodge@sandiegozoo.org

My own trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park was guided by Dani Dodge Medlin, a former San Diego Union newspaper editor turned San Diego Zoo Global PR representative who made sure my visit was much more than the average press trip. With a gift for weaving animal facts with delightful park trivia, Dani not only kept the conversation lively, she also managed to keep up with a steady stream of inquiries about a baby hippo born the day before at the main Zoo, never missing a beat. We were talking and waiting to board the open-air safari truck for my adventure through fields of giraffes and a later visit with a baby rhino, when I caught a glimpse of a strange creature pairing at the edge of my visual field. Doing a quick double take, I found it was real – one of the Safari park staff walking a full grown cheetah and a dog together. “It’s an “ambassador” program,” Dani explained. She made an impromptu call when we later stopped for lunch (I couldn’t get the image out of my mind) and invited one of the trainers to join us. Fascinating!!!

San Diego Zoo Safari Park is less than 40 miles and under an hour's drive from our AHP hotel headquarters (even with California traffic).