The San Diego zoo is one of the largest and most beautiful zoos in the world. When you walk around this zoo, you feel like you're walking through the jungle or through the rainforest. Trees surround you and animals often walk freely (and on leashes if needed) throughout the park. It's an animal wonderland, and my favorite part about this magical animal oasis is that the San Diego zoo offers views of some strange, often unseen, and very special animals. Let's take a look at my top five.

The okapi, pronounced oh-COP-ee, is the only living relative of the giraffe. Upon first seeing this gorgeous creature, you immediately think that they're related to the zebra (they're legs are striped exactly like a zebra's legs). However, take a close look at their faces, the eyes, the horns, the ears, and their long black tongue, and it's clear that the okapi is a relative of the giraffe. The okapi's natural habitat is the Ituri forest in central Africa, and they were unknown to scientists until 1900! An interesting okapi fact: female okapis are slightly taller than male okapis.

The serval is a member of the cat family and greatly resembles a cheetah, a very long legged cheetah.  I happened to be at the right place at the right time on my visit to the San Diego zoo (about halfway up the cat walk hill if you get the chance to visit) when two trainers displayed, very up close and personal might I add, two very beautiful serval cats. I got to stand merely inches away from these giant cats, but don't worry they were on leashes, of course! The serval is native to the grasslands of Africa, and can jump more than 9 feet to capture prey! An interesting serval fact: ancient Egyptians worshipped the serval for its power and grace.

The giant panda is protected by law in China (they are found in six small forest fragments in southwestern China).  For years it was unknown whether the giant panda was a bear, a raccoon, or an animal in its own class, but studies of panda DNA have proven that they are indeed related to bears.  The San Diego zoo is one of the few zoos in the world that houses these endangered animals.  Pandas are endangered for several reasons: low reproductive rate, bamboo shortages, habitat destruction, and hunting.  An interesting panda fact: giant pandas are carnivores, but have adapted themselves to living off of mainly bamboo!

Help the giant panda and donate to the Wolong Panda Center Earthquake Relief. 

The San Diego zoo has an immense turtle and tortoise exhibit. The tortoise is one of my favorite animals to watch. The amazing thing about a tortoise is that you can watch one for an hour and see him only move about fifteen feet and eat about three leaves. They are so slow and so cute, I can't help but cheer them on as they slowly drag their heavy shells around their dirt filled cages. The San Diego zoo has over a dozen tortoises, all penned in a very large, suitable cage. I've never seen so many tortoises in one place before. An interesting tortoise fact: tortoises have both an exoskeleton and an endoskeleton.

Orangutans live in the rain forests of northern Sumatra and parts of Borneo. The orangutans at the San Diego zoo are quite the lively creatures! Karen's the youngest and widely known for surviving open heart surgery as a young orangutan! She's happy to be alive, and she shows it by running around the pen, swinging from ropes and interacting with her admirers! There is a Mother orangutan, Indah, whose constantly over protecting her silly youngin, Cinta. Cinta runs around the cage trying to have a good time, but Indah is always close behind to keep Cinta out of trouble. These orangutan's are great entertainers, and you have to see them for yourselves! An interesting orangutan fact: when males are about fifteen years old, they develop large cheek pads.