| Living Desert Zoo And Gardens |
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Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is a desert Botanical Garden s and a Zoo located at 47-900 Portola Avenue, Palm Desert, California . They are open daily with an admission fee of about $12 for adults (2007). The gardens were established in 1970 as a 360 Acre (1.46 Km&2 ) wilderness preserve by the Palm Springs Desert Museum . By 1974 the gardens housed a Kit Fox , Tortoise s, Lizard s, and two Bighorn Sheep , and in 1974-75 the Mojave Garden was built, a replica of the high California desert. Additional facilities have gradually been constructed, including Greenhouse s and a number of built landscapes, as well as animals including Rhim Gazelle s (1981); Mountain Lion s, Bobcat s and Badger s (1993); Cheetah s and Warthog s (1995); Model Train s (1998); Giraffe s and Ostrich es (2002). Today, the gardens claim to be the only American zoo and garden dedicated solely to the deserts of the world, and provide environmental education, native wildlife rehabilitation, plant propagation and captive breeding of both native and African species including the area's iconic Bighorn Sheep . Their unique Meerkat exhibit served as inspiration to Walt Disney Studios animators in the development of "Timon", '' The Lion King's '' comic meerkat character. The holiday season signals the start of the zoo's "WildLights" celebration in which more than 275,000 miniature lights illuminate animated holiday scenes. It is also the site of one of the world's largest LGB model railroad layouts; the layout includes the world's longest model Trestle span. Species and scenery offered by the Living Desert.]] samples from the zoo.]] s eating lunch in the Zoo .]] watching the visitors at the zoo. One of the unique features of the zoo is that visitors are able to get up close to many of the animals.]] Of particular interest are the Re-creation s of a variety of desert environments. The North American desert gardens include:
Specialized gardens include:
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK AND REFERENCE
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