Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more information see the Zoo InternQuest Journals. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal.

I always knew I was missing something! Strolling through Monkey Trails, alongside San Diego Zoo Horticulturist Andy Dannenberger, I realized that in all of my hundreds of visits to the Zoo, I had overlooked almost 700,000 organisms! Visitors usually come to zoos in hopes of seeing exotic creatures that they wouldn’t normally have the chance to see.

The San Diego Zoo has taken this intention one step further. Not only are the exhibits of the African animals surrounded by native African plants, the Zoo has designed its exhibits to include groups of plants and animals that represent entire ecosystems in nature. As Mr. Dannenberger explained, “The most important things to the Zoo are conservation, education, and the guest experience.” From Tiger River’s Asian rain forest to the arctic groundcover plants surrounding Polar Bear Plunge, each of the more than 6,000 species are arranged to form a comprehensive experience for visitors to the Zoo. Not only is the San Diego Zoo world famous for its animals, it is also a world-class botanical garden.

The San Diego Zoo is an official rescue center for plants. In the same way that confiscated animals are sent to animal care centers such as the Zoo, smuggled plants impounded by U.S. customs are also sent to the Zoo for care. According to Mr. Dannenberger, orchids are the most commonly smuggled plants because of their high value. In San Diego, smuggled cacti from Mexico are also a significant problem. With both orchids and cacti, smuggling is a huge threat to the survival of the species. In some cases, the orchid species are extinct in the wild and the only individuals left are those that have been confiscated. Mr. Dannenberger told us about some ongoing Zoo research in micropropogation, a process of artificial reproduction in which offspring are cloned from tissue taken from a single plant. Micropropagation is a vital tool in plant conservation because it is a way to grow plants that are normally difficult to grow from seeds or cuttings.

In order to save a species, the species’ habitat must also be conserved. Conservation of plant species is just as important as taking care of the animal species, since plants are the primary producers in the majority of terrestrial ecosystems. In order to support the botanical conservation efforts of the Zoo, we got down and dirty. Stepping carefully over the fence along the Monkey Trails pathway, we planted 64 plants into the moist, dark soil. My favorite moment was when a young boy, walking past with his mother, saw us planting and said, “Hey, I want to do that!” It was a remarkable experience: working on the other side of the fence, watching visitors as they strolled past. People were interested in knowing what we were doing and many looked very impressed upon learning that we were high school students and so involved in the conservation work of the Zoo.

Ronit, The Real World Team

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Scroll to the end to leave a comment. Pinging is not allowed.