Safari Park

It's good to be a kid this month at the San Diego Zoo and the zoo's Safari Park. Children skip the $32 entrance fee at both venues and can take advantage of free activities inside, such as mingling with zoo characters, feeding a giraffe or taking in a Camp Critters Show. The deal: The zoo has been offering Kids Free in October for more than 25 years, for children 11 and younger. No need to show a ticket (usually $32), and there's no limit on the number of children you can bring, though they must be accompanied by an adult ($42)

It's good to be a kid this month at the San Diego Zoo and the zoo's Safari Park. Children skip the $32 entrance fee at both venues and can take advantage of free activities inside, such as mingling with zoo characters, feeding a giraffe or taking in a Camp Critters Show. The deal: The zoo has been offering Kids Free in October for more than 25 years, for children 11 and younger. No need to show a ticket (usually $32), and there's no limit on the number of children you can bring, though they must be accompanied by an adult ($42)

The Molokai Ranch safari park--long a leading tourist attraction on Molokai--has closed. The 300-acre Molokai Ranch Wildlife Conservation Park, which opened in 1972, was shut down when the park's license to publicly exhibit animals expired in August. The current ranch owners believe the park was not "appropriate to Molokai's heritage or culture," according to a spokesman. Until its closure, the park contained 100 African and Asian animals.

For the record: Yes, that was Newt Gingrich at the San Diego Zoo on Tuesday for a 90-minute behind-the-scenes tour. Gingrich was in the area raising money for his bid for the Republican presidential nomination but found time to visit the zoo, including feeding a young panda, looking at elephants, polar bears and tigers, and posing for pictures with zoo staffers. Gingrich has made other visits to the zoo and Safari Park, including a sleepover at the park's Snore and Roar program.

While all eyes will be on Disney California Adventure in 2012, plenty of other theme parks in California will be adding new rides and attractions in time for the summer crowds. Our Top 10 for 2012 is dominated by new rides coming to DCA's 12-acre Cars Land expansion , the grand finale in the $1 billion extreme makeover the Anaheim theme park has undertaken during the past five years. DCA's transformation is so massive that even Disneyland is taking the year off as far as new attractions go, letting the spotlight shine on its younger neighbor.

A "liger," a cross between a lion and a tiger, dragged a keeper into its cage at a safari park and killed him, authorities said. Everett Cremeans, 45, had removed a bar that held the cage gate in place and was using it to prod the animal when he was mauled Tuesday.

For the record: Yes, that was Newt Gingrich at the San Diego Zoo on Tuesday for a 90-minute behind-the-scenes tour. Gingrich was in the area raising money for his bid for the Republican presidential nomination but found time to visit the zoo, including feeding a young panda, looking at elephants, polar bears and tigers, and posing for pictures with zoo staffers. Gingrich has made other visits to the zoo and Safari Park, including a sleepover at the park's Snore and Roar program.

The seemingly endless stream of bad weather forced several Southern California theme parks to close Wednesday and others to restrict hours or limit access to certain areas. SeaWorld San Diego , Legoland California and Six Flags Magic Mountain were closed Wednesday due to inclement weather. Knott's Berry Farm , which closed early Tuesday because of the rain, was open for business Wednesday. Disneyland was operating on a regular schedule Wednesday, but Disney California Adventure planned to close an hour early (at 9 p.m.)

In the 1970s, disco-themed skating rinks were all the rage. In the '80s it was paintball battlefields, followed in the '90s by urban skateboard parks. And now comes the zip line - an elevated cable ride that zips harnessed riders downhill at high speeds, powered only by gravity. Across the nation, these rides stretch over canyons, vineyards, island tourist towns and even zoos. Since 2001, the number of zip lines built in the U.S. has soared from 10 to more than 200, according to zip line experts.

San Diego could be improved. If the county had 75 miles of beaches instead of 70. If the Padres won a World Series or the Chargers won a Super Bowl. Or if the municipal sloganeers dropped "America's finest city" in favor of "You stay classy, San Diego. " But this is nit-picking. Besides its most obvious tourist attractions - the beaches, the zoo and Old Town - San Diego's downtown has interesting edges, several old neighborhoods are showing new vigor, and everybody seems to be brewing artisan beer.

Reporting from San Diego -- Pteropus rodricensis was hanging upside down, doing some squeaking. That's mostly his daily routine, with occasional breaks to eat slices of fruit. He's primarily a dusk-and-night mammal. That's when members of his species spread their wings in a 30-inch span for some low-level flying and maybe some ritualistic courting. Arya Yari, 11, of San Diego was watching intently one day last week. He's kind of a bat expert, although until that day he'd never seen a Pteropus rodricensis, a.k.a.

Reporting from San Diego -- A postmortem examination has confirmed that Umoya, a 21-year-old elephant at San Diego Zoo Safari Park, was fatally attacked by another elephant, but other details of the death remain a mystery. No one witnessed the attack and it is unknown which elephant or elephants in the herd were responsible for Umoya's death or what may have prompted the deadly confrontation Nov. 17. Umoya had no visible injuries, but it was clear that the female African elephant had been hurt by what was initially termed an "aggressive interaction.

While all eyes will be on Disney California Adventure in 2012, plenty of other theme parks in California will be adding new rides and attractions in time for the summer crowds. Our Top 10 for 2012 is dominated by new rides coming to DCA's 12-acre Cars Land expansion , the grand finale in the $1 billion extreme makeover the Anaheim theme park has undertaken during the past five years. DCA's transformation is so massive that even Disneyland is taking the year off as far as new attractions go, letting the spotlight shine on its younger neighbor.

Vus'musi, a 4,500-pound, 7-year-old African elephant, was having his morning regimen with Curtis Lehman, a senior elephant keeper at the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park. Lehman held out treats for Vus'musi — who got his name, roughly translated as "to build a family," from the king of Swaziland. The mammoth mammal snatched the treats with his trunk and stuffed them into his mouth. On command, the elephant turned this way and that for Lehman to inspect his tail, his flanks, his anus, his tusks and his feet.

The seemingly endless stream of bad weather forced several Southern California theme parks to close Wednesday and others to restrict hours or limit access to certain areas. SeaWorld San Diego , Legoland California and Six Flags Magic Mountain were closed Wednesday due to inclement weather. Knott's Berry Farm , which closed early Tuesday because of the rain, was open for business Wednesday. Disneyland was operating on a regular schedule Wednesday, but Disney California Adventure planned to close an hour early (at 9 p.m.)

In 10 years of visiting zoos and animal parks in China, David Neale has seen a bear punched in the head by a trainer, tigers whose teeth and claws had been removed and hundreds of animals that lived in filthy, unhealthy conditions. Too many facilities take credit for simply keeping animals alive, while a large number rely on barbaric techniques such as whipping, beating and prodding with metal hooks to control them, said Neale, the animal welfare director of Animals Asia, a Hong Kong-based advocacy group.

Tourists can now fly down an 800-foot -long zip line over the crowds at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas , gliding at up to 30 miles an hour along steel lines under the arched metal canopy that displays the hourly light show. Canada-based Greenheart Conservation Co ., which has built a steeper and longer zip line 30 miles away in Boulder City, Nev., as well as zip lines at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and other sites, set up a temporary rig above Fremont (shown above in a company video, via Vimeo)

Missing marmosets, abducted alligators, purloined penguins: Thieves are targeting Europe's zoos and safari parks to supply animal collectors who want to own ever more exotic species. Conservationists say the practice is harming animals, threatening vital breeding programs, and adding to a flourishing illegal trade in exotic birds and animals.

Missing marmosets, abducted alligators, purloined penguins: Thieves are targeting Europe's zoos and safari parks to supply animal collectors who want to own ever more exotic species. Conservationists say the practice is harming animals, threatening vital breeding programs, and adding to a flourishing illegal trade in exotic birds and animals.

The Molokai Ranch safari park--long a leading tourist attraction on Molokai--has closed. The 300-acre Molokai Ranch Wildlife Conservation Park, which opened in 1972, was shut down when the park's license to publicly exhibit animals expired in August. The current ranch owners believe the park was not "appropriate to Molokai's heritage or culture," according to a spokesman. Until its closure, the park contained 100 African and Asian animals.