Wildlife Explorers Basecamp Brings Innovation and Immersive Nature Play for All Ages

SAN DIEGO, March 11, 2022 / Excitement filled the air at the San Diego Zoo today as a large crowd gathered to experience the newest and most anticipated opening in the nonprofit conservation organization's history. Paul A. Baribault, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, along with a group of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance team members, youth from across San Diego, and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, joined in a festive opening ceremony welcoming guest into the new Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. Paul A. Baribault, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, along with a group of youth from across San Diego, and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, welcomed guests into the new Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. Built on the site of the former Children's Zoo, Wildlife Explorers Basecamp is a 3.2-acre state-of-the-art, multi-ecosystem experience designed to provide guests of all ages with an up-close look at nature. Brooke Shields, actress, model and entrepreneur, meets an umbrella cockatoo during the opening festivities for Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Shields was an intern at the San Diego Zoo in May 1983 and returned to celebrate the new 3.2 acre Basecamp, built the site of the former Children's Zoo.

The San Diego Zoo opened Wildlife Explorers Basecamp on Friday, March 11, 2022 - it's largest endeavor to-date. Built on the site of the former Children's Zoo, Wildlife Explorers Basecamp is a 3.2-acre state-of-the-art, multi-ecosystem experience designed to provide guests of all ages with an up-close look at nature and offer fresh, high-tech interactive opportunities that nurture empathy for wildlife and encourage future caretakers of the planet. Inside Basecamp, Zoo guests will visit with a variety of fascinating species and engage on a deeper level by using full sensory and multifaceted elements, including "parallel play" opportunities from climbing and crawling around a massive tree house, to exploring through amazing water play elements; experiencing interactive touch screen games, using microscopes to reveal natural wonders, and specialized animation that utilizes artificial-intelligence (AI), dynamic lighting and whole-room scented environments. "Wildlife Explorers Basecamp speaks to the budding conservationist within us all and shows us the marvels of the natural world," said Paul A. Baribault, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. "Through these gates millions of world changers will begin their journey with nature, and demonstrate the power of empathy and compassion as they join us to become allies for wildlife". Wildlife Explorers Basecamp encompasses eight buildings and habitats dispersed throughout four zones, featuring wildlife that live in these ecosystems: Rainforest, Wild Woods, Marsh Meadows and Desert Dunes. The Rainforest zone is centered around the 10,000-square-foot McKinney Family Spineless Marvels building, where guests will experience invertebrates—including crustaceans, arachnids and insects—such as leafcutter ants, spiders, scorpions, stick insects and more. Inside, there is a pollinator experience with giant beeswax-fragrant honeycombs and an observation pane that gives guests the chance to see the workings of a real-life beehive. The projected migration flyover encounter showcases various insects, including migrating monarch butterflies, grasshoppers and dragonflies as part of a large meadow scene that curves along walls and encompasses a domed ceiling. The Wild Woods area offers guests the chance to visit with unusual wildlife species, such as coatis and squirrel monkeys, which are both native to Central and South America. The space features the striking Prebys Foundation Discovery Bridge and a 20-foot-tall tree or dreams — a tree house designed as an ancient oak. This dynamic and detailed nature-play tree provides multiple points of access for guests—from a suspension bridge and net tunnel to a spiral staircase—and a parallel play experience to the squirrel monkeys that live in the adjacent habitat. Water play is another focus of this woodland-themed zone, which includes a waterfall that flows into a gentle meandering stream, an exhilarating splash pad, unpredictable water jets, and a bluff area with a boulder scramble made to encourage exploration. Marsh Meadows aims to evoke a sense of visiting marsh-like habitats, including swamps and estuaries. The pathway through this area was designed to help convey a sense that guests are inhabiting the marsh along with frogs, fish and other wildlife that lives there. The central hub of Marsh Meadows is the Art and Danielle Engel-funded Jake's Cool Critters building—a two-story herpetology and ichthyology structure with more than 7,000 square feet of immersive environments, digital media, learning opportunities and educational classroom spaces, created to engage wildlife explorers of all ages. The wildlife here includes snakes, amphibians, crocodilians, turtles and lizards, including endangered Fijian iguanas. At the nearby Rady Ambassadors Headquarters, guests will meet wildlife from all over the planet, including a two-toed sloth and a prehensile-tailed porcupine, and learn more about how everyone can help conserve them in their native habitats. Finally, Desert Dunes, a dry desert wash-themed area, offers fun boulder play prospects for climbing, scrambling, hopping and more. Reptile sculptures and petroglyphs can be found among the rocks, while cool caves provide shaded areas where guests can beat the heat, like their desert wildlife counterparts—including the fennec fox, prairie dog and burrowing owl. Conservation is at the forefront in the design of Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, as builders worked to incorporate advanced sustainable materials throughout. A portion of the Spineless Marvels building was made with ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE)—a fluorine-based plastic that is created to be more resistant to corrosion. The system is 100% recyclable, and consists of a series of custom-sized Teflon multilayered "air pillows"—which, when filled with air, provide solar insulation while also reducing the need for artificial lighting. The Zoo's talented horticulture team worked to identify more than 100 trees from the previous habitat to preserve and replant within Basecamp. For more information about Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, its many features, the wildlife that lives there and how you can help San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance conserve wildlife and build a world where all live thrives, visit the Wildlife Explorers Basecamp webpage. Wildlife Explorers Basecamp is included with admission to the San Diego Zoo. About San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is a nonprofit international conservation leader, committed to inspiring a passion for nature and creating a world where all life thrives. The Alliance empowers people from around the globe to support their mission to conserve wildlife through innovation and partnerships. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance supports cutting-edge conservation and brings the stories of their work back to the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park—giving millions of guests, in person and virtually, the opportunity to experience conservation in action. The work of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance extends from San Diego to strategic and regional conservation "hubs" across the globe, where their strengths—including the renowned Wildlife Biodiversity Bank—are able to effectively align with hundreds of regional partners to improve outcomes for wildlife in more coordinated efforts. By leveraging these tools in wildlife care and conservation science, and through collaboration with hundreds of partners, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has reintroduced more than 44 endangered species to native habitats. Each year, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's work reaches over 1 billion people in 150 countries via news media, social media, their websites, educational resources and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers television programming, which is in children's hospitals in 13 countries. Success is made possible by the support of members, donors and guests to the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, who are Wildlife Allies committed to ensuring all life thrives. Link Includes: Photo of: Paul A. Baribault, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, along with a group of youth from across San Diego and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, during the opening ceremony of the new Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. Video available of: Paul A. Baribault, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, along with a group of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance team members, youth from across San Diego, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, and a crowd of Zoo guests during the opening ceremony of the new Denny Sanford Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. Interview with: Paul A. Baribault, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Wildlife Explorers Basecamp news release in Spanish available. PERMITTED USE: Images and video(s) are provided to the media solely for reproduction, public display, and distribution in a professional journalistic non-commercial and non-sponsored context in connection with newspaper, magazine, broadcast media (radio, television) or internet media (ad enabled blog, webcasts, webinars, podcasts). Image(s) and video(s) may not be made available for public or commercial download, licensing or sale. 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