The San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California was my favorite place we went to on our last trip to the United States.  Everyone in my family loved seeing all the animals, reptiles, and bugs they have there.

This zoo covers 100 acres with animal exhibits, a petting zoo, gift shops, and restaurants. Every purchase made there goes to help the zoo and its animals.

One of the main attractions here are the Giant Pandas. The Giant Pandas are in the Panda Canyon along with the Red Pandas. There have been five Giant Panda cubs born here; the newest one was born on July 29th, 2012. We couldn't actually see the baby panda, but there was a TV with a live camera feed showing the mom and baby panda between the two enclosures.  As a Chinese tradition, the baby panda won't be named until its 100 days old.

Yun Zi, Giant Panda

Some of the other newadditions are the two baby jaguars. They are really cute! You could pass by them on the guided tour bus, but you couldn't get off there.  In order to get a closer look, you will have to go see the jaguars on foot via the Big Cat Trail.

Jaguar and jaguar cub at San Diego Zoo

There are several different sections in the zoo which feature different animals, like the Lost Forest, Urban Jungle, and the Northern Frontier. The Lost Forest has tigers, Urban Jungle has giraffes and rhinos, and Northern Frontier has polar bears.

In another section called the Discovery Outpost, you visit the Insect House. Here you can look at a bee hive and an ant colony up close. My favorite insect there is the Dead Leaf Mantis. It really looks like a dead leaf!

At the end of the day, we still hadn't seen everything, but we still saw most of the animals and attractions we wanted to see. If you ever go to San Diego, be sure to visit the zoo!

Zebras at the San Diego Zoo

Joy Whitehead is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.

All photos courtesy and copyright Joy Whitehead