Animals at home in Southern California

famed San Diego Zoo, renowned for its breeding programs, sits in the midst of the city's Balboa Park and holds the largest collection of animals in North America -- over 4,200 animals representing more than 800 species.

A pair of giant pandas on loan from China -- Bai Yun and Shi Shi -- heads the list, along with polar bears, hippos, gorillas, bears, a children's petting zoo, baby animal nursery and a 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) bus tour. There are Komodo dragons in San Diego, too -- seven of them, to be precise.

The zoo also is home to more than 6,500 species of plant life.

Associated with the zoo is the San Diego Wild Animal Park, a 1,800-acre (720-hectare) preserve outside the city where wild animals from Africa and Asia roam free. The park features hiking trails and a monorail through the habitats.

The Wild Animal Park's newest exhibit is Dino Mountain, where (the story goes) a diary belonging to a paleontologist was found ... apparently implying that dinosaurs still exist. Or do they?

San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park

Zoo: 2920 Zoo Dr., San Diego, (619) 234-3153; Wild Animal Park: 15500 San Pasqual Valley Rd., Escondido (760) 747-8702 Web site - Zoo: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/zoo/index.html; Wild Animal Park: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap/index.html FAST FACT: The San Diego Zoo's first keeper was a one-armed man named Army, hired by zoo founder Dr. Harry Wegeforth. Army's one arm, it was said, "was all he needed."

Photos courtesy the San Diego Zoo.