What’s New At The Zoo!
Visitors to the San Diego Zoo’s Elephant Odyssey habitat will travel back in time to explore the ancestor of animals that roamed California over 10,000 years ago.
Opening May 23rd, the new $45-million pachyderm playground brings together the zoo’s three elephants, and six from the Wild Animal Park in Escondido, to form a single herd. The elephants’ new home features a 2.5-acre yard, a 120,000-gallon pond, and a medical facility where visitors can watch zookeepers and veterinarians feed and care for these 10,000 pound creatures!
In the adjacent 4.5-acre area of the Odyssey, a series of secondary habitats showcase lions, jaguars, wild horses, and camels in a naturalistic environment. Smaller exhibits are home to pond turtles, rattlesnakes, tree sloths, and dung beetles!
The new exhibit also marks the return of the California condor to the zoo for the first time since the 1980s. Once on the brink of extinction, this magnificent bird has recovered, thanks to the efforts of conservationists. Successful breeding programs are now seeing the release of hundreds of condors back into their native habitat in California, Arizona, and Mexico.
Replacing the 50-year-old Horn and Hoof Mesa exhibits to create the Elephant Odyssey was no ordinary undertaking for Rudolph & Sluetten General Contractors. The Odyssey began in September 2007. The site at times resembled orchestrated chaos as 200 craftsmen from all over the world combined their talents to create this most impressive venue.
FCP involvement began when architects presented a most challenging project–custom barns to house condors, wild horses, and camels! These unique structures required a maze of stalls, intricate door hardware with rope pulley systems, and push walls to herd animals into outdoor pens.
With design and build capabilities, the innovative staff at FCP took on the project with ingenious thought. Our dedicated manufacturing team fabricated the complex components required to house these distinctive tenants! Field supervisor Stuart Heilscher took the challenge to heart as his meticulous work ethic directed crew members to undertake each barn’s construction.
All those who participated in this grand venture took with them a sense of great pride and accomplishment in their achievement. The legacy of Harry and Grace Steele’s Elephant Odyssey will forever impress the millions of visitors who come to the zoo each year. With education and conservation efforts, mankind can protect God’s gift of wildlife.