Hidden Zoos In Orange County

There are two wonderful neighboring zoos in Southern California – The Los Angles and San Diego Zoos but they are quite large and take some planning. What if you want to see some animals but with no effort required? Well you have two easy choices: The Santa Ana and Orange County Zoos. Neither one promotes itself as being a megazoo but instead are nice places to visit if you want to be outdoors in Orange County, not be around huge crowds, and enjoy seeing a few animals while you’re at it.

Let’s start with the Orange County Zoo located inside the Irvine Regional Park. One thing I liked about this zoo was that we saw animals that CAN be found in or around my neighborhood but are ones you want to avoid in real life. It was very interesting to safely see them in their “natural habitat” since that’s something you don’t experience when running in to them on the streets. Most of the animals came here because they were injured, overly dependent on people, or otherwise just not releasable back into the wild. Coyotes, possums, bobcats, raccoons, and mountain lions were located here to name a few.

I am not going to pretend I didn’t have fun in the children’s petting zoo area, as well. I know they have these in many places but tell me the last time you didn’t have fun with goats following you around begging to be pet as if they were dogs?!?

The two resident black bears were entertaining to watch, too. One couldn’t seem to stay still while the other was perched above taking a nap until the first bear wanted to play. You didn’t need to speak bear to understand the resting bear wanted no part of the fun.

Of course, there were other interesting animals there to observe.

I must admit my least favorite part of any zoo are the reptiles, which the Orange County Zoo had (of course), but I grinned and bared it. Honestly, it wasn’t too bad, even with the staff members walking around with snakes wrapped around their arms.

When you have seen enough animals, you still have a lovely park to explore just outside – the oldest county park in California. It provides public trails, bike rentals, paddle boats, horseback riding, and fishing to cap off a wonderful day outside.

Or if you haven’t had your fill of animals, you could head on over to the Santa Ana Zoo. The Santa Ana Zoo was opened in 1952 on land donated by local businessman and citrus grower Joseph E. Prentice. His only condition to this wonderful offer was that the zoo must be home to at least 50 monkeys at all times. I guess he had a thing for monkeys but I’m not going to judge because I also think they are cute and amusing – and you will see plenty here. Everything from Gibbons to endangered Crested Capuchins. If you love watching monkeys, this is your kind of place!

We happened to spot a family of Black and White Colobus monkeys displaying their aerial skills as they were gliding from branch to branch. I really think they were showing off for us – but that was okay because they were so entertaining.

There is also a nice selection of birds ranging from those you might find in a tropical rainforest, the Amazon, Australia, Africa, and even the birds of prey found in the USA. Of course, it includes the beautiful Bald Eagle (I’d be a little disappointed if they didn’t have this bird).

The Camelid family (cousins of the camel) are also represented along with actual camels, llamas, and alpacas.

There’s also a lovely butterfly garden if you want to just sit and relax which is located right next to the Crean Family Farm. Here you might have the opportunity to feed goats and sheep or chuckle at some pigs rolling in dirt.

For those with children, there is a Ferris wheel, carousel, and train ride to keep them amused (or it can be a break for you too, if needed).

We spent two delightful afternoons on different days enjoying both zoos and walking the grounds. It was nice not having to plan in advance and having a couple of easy-going afternoons. I highly recommend these two zoos if you want to do exactly that.

PS- I will be off doing research for the next few weeks but please follow my travels on my Instagram or Facebook travel page. Additionally, I am hoping the issue with leaving comments on this blog will be resolved upon my return. But as I stated previously, please leave comments on my social media pages.