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Malaysian Reserve
12-08-2025
- Malaysian Reserve
In Celebration of World Elephant Day, San Diego Zoo Safari Park Announces Elephant Valley to Open Early 2026
Largest Project in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance History is 80% Complete SAN DIEGO, Aug. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, in celebration of World Elephant Day, San Diego Zoo Safari Park announces Denny Sanford Elephant Valley will open in early 2026. The largest and most transformative project in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's 109-year history is 80% complete. This first-of-its-kind experience will offer new insight into the role San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance pursues as a leader in wildlife conservation, highlighting its global partners and celebrating the vibrant cultures and local communities in Kenya where people and elephants coexist. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is grateful for the more than 4,100 donors who made Elephant Valley possible, including a lead gift from Denny Sanford. 'Denny Sanford Elephant Valley's innovative design celebrates the world's largest land mammal and the communities that coexist with them,' said Shawn Dixon, interim president and chief executive officer at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. 'Every detail of this habitat has been purposefully designed to reflect the elephants' natural environment, supporting their well-being while inspiring meaningful connections. We're eager to welcome guests in early 2026 to experience a place unlike any other—where wildlife and people come together in powerful new ways.' Elephant Valley is an immersive journey for guests to learn about the crucial role elephants serve as ecosystem engineers, and better understand the nuances of the herd's rich social structure. Surrounded by elephants on multiple sides, guests will encounter what it feels like to walk beside the herd. The dynamic savanna at the heart of the Safari Park aims to generate greater empathy, understanding and appreciation for elephants, encouraging guests to protect them for generations to come. Each facet of Elephant Valley is meticulously designed to reflect the seasonal variations of the African savanna year-round. The rich plant life in Elephant Valley has been curated by a team of expert horticulturists and arborists to authentically replicate the sights, sounds and smells of Africa's diverse ecosystems, specifically the vast savanna and grasslands. More than 350 individual plants have been grown for Elephant Valley, representing rare and endangered African plants. Guests will venture through pathways lined with African thorn trees, a common source of food for elephants. Other African trees including the vulnerable kokerboom and endangered Nubian dragon tree, some of which have been growing at the Safari Park since it opened 53 years ago, have new homes in Elephant Valley. Several African plants, including the vulnerable Mulanje and Gorongo cycads, were originally seized by authorities from illegal trafficking before finding refuge in Elephant Valley. Mkutano House is a unique dining destination positioned directly alongside one of Elephant Valley's two expansive watering holes, a 240,000-gallon oasis where the herd wades, swims and plays—a profound experience for those who pay witness to their natural bonding behavior. The two-story restaurant at the center of the Elephant Valley experience is inspired by the locations frequented by travelers while on safari in Africa. The Swahili word Mkutano refers to gathering with purpose. Nearby, Mkutano Park will serve as a gathering place to learn from educators about the awe-inspiring wildlife of the region. Elephant Valley will bridge the vital work happening in San Diego to the collaborative elephant conservation initiatives San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance supports in the African savanna. Elephants across Africa are facing immense threats that are taking a toll on their populations, including habitat loss, poaching and challenges to human-wildlife coexistence. African savanna elephants are currently listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. Research conducted in Africa and with the Safari Park's elephant herd provide an opportunity to advance technologies and approaches to monitor and protect elephants in the wild, and support coexistence. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance works closely with Save the Elephants, The Nature Conservancy, Northern Rangelands Trust, Kenya Wildlife Service and Reteti Elephant Sanctuary for conservation of African savanna elephants. Increasing knowledge of elephant health needs and the complexity of their social behaviors has equipped the organization and its partners with valuable insight into what successful conservation outcomes look like for the species. Guests are invited to journey into Elephant Valley in early 2026. For more information, visit About San Diego Zoo Wildlife AllianceSan Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, a nonprofit conservation leader, inspires passion for nature and collaboration for a healthier world. The Alliance supports innovative conservation science through global partnerships and groundbreaking efforts at the world-famous San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, both leading zoological institutions and accredited botanical gardens. Through wildlife care expertise, cutting-edge science and continued collaboration, more than 44 endangered species have been reintroduced to native habitats. The Alliance reaches over 1 billion people annually through its two conservation parks and media channels in 170 countries, including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers television, available in children's hospitals across 14 countries. Wildlife Allies—members, donors and guests—make success possible. PRESS ROOM: Link includes: B-roll and photos of the elephant herd at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park PERMITTED USE: Images and video(s) are provided to the media solely for reproduction, public display, and distribution in a professional journalistic non-commercial and non-sponsored context in connection with newspaper, magazine, broadcast media (radio, television) or internet media (ad enabled blog, webcasts, webinars, podcasts). Image(s)and video(s)may not be made available for public or commercial download, licensing or sale. ADDITIONAL LIMITATION: Media acknowledges and agrees that San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance specifically does not grant a right to sublicense any image and/or video without the prior express written consent of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in each instance and at its sole discretion. REQUIRED CREDIT AND CAPTION: All image and/or video uses must bear the copyright notice and/or be properly credited to the relevant photographer, as shown in the image metadata, and must be accompanied by a caption that makes reference to the San Diego Zoo and/or San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Any uses in which the image and/or video appears without proper copyright notice, photographer credit and a caption referencing the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and/or San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance are subject to paid licensing. AP PERMITTED USE: Specific to the Associated Press ('AP') only, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has provided to the AP one or more photograph(s)and/or video(s) for distribution by the AP to its subscribers and customers solely for editorial publication. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is the sole copyright owner of the photograph(s)and/or video(s)furnished to AP for editorial publication by AP and its subscribers and customers in all media now known or hereafter created. Said content is a factually accurate rendering of what it depicts and has not been modified or augmented except for standard cropping and toning. CONTACT: San Diego Zoo Wildlife AlliancePublic Relations619-685-3291publicrelations@
The Guardian
29-03-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘A tree zoo': endangered conifers a living legacy of Kent pinetum's centenary
With the exception of Christmas trees, conifers are not widely cherished. People tend to associate them with antisocially high suburban hedges or ugly, nature-bereft blocks of industrial forestry. But at the world's most important collection of rare evergreens, which is 100 years old this spring, these often unfairly maligned trees are celebrated and revealed in a much more beautiful light. Bedgebury national pinetum in Kent is increasingly vital as an ark for endangered conifers, which are globally one of the most threatened groups of plants in the world. A third of conifer species are at risk of extinction. The pinetum (pronounced 'pine-eet-tum' – an arboretum for pine trees) was founded by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew and the Forestry Commission in 1925 after Kew's curator complained that his rare conifers were choking in London smogs. 'Anyone working in the pinetum would come away looking like a chimney sweep,' wrote William Bean, the curator of Kew Gardens at the time. Set up on the southern Kentish Weald, Bedgebury was an ideal escape from pollution, and also provided varied topography and soils and both boggy and free-draining land to suit a wide range of species. Conifers planted by the previous landowner, the Victorian evergreen enthusiast William Beresford, were already thriving there. In 1925, the first 315 trees were planted, overseen by the Forestry Commission, which was founded after the first world war to ensure an increasingly tree-less Britain became more self-sufficient in timber. Foresters were keen to discover which New World conifer species might thrive in Britain's forests of the future. Today the pinetum continues to provide Forestry England with real-world examples of conifer species that may flourish in the near future. Global heating, new tree diseases and political instability are giving fresh urgency to identifying resilient timber trees for the next century. The pinetum is also a unique repository for rare species, with the most complete conifer collection in the world. In recent years, its horticulturalists have worked to grow and save the Mulanje cedar, the national tree of Malawi that was illegally logged to extinction during the pandemic. Staff were also the first in the world to successfully grow probably the rarest tree in the world, the Vietnamese golden cypress, from seed. Offspring will shortly be distributed to other botanic gardens around the world. Dan Luscombe, the curator of Bedgebury, described the Vietnamese golden cypress as 'our giant panda'. 'We're a tree zoo,' he said. 'We hold on to species and repropagate them. You cannot conserve something if you can't grow it. That's the skill of horticulture. 'Conifers get a bad reputation because 'dwarf' conifers planted in the 1970s were never dwarf and never stopped growing. Leylandii is the suburban brute. But conifers shouldn't be overlooked. They are some of the most amazing living things on the planet. These trees are like incredible paintings which we hold on to for posterity. These species have been around for so many millions of years and the biggest threat to them is our behaviour.' For many of the 500,000 annual visitors who enjoy the pinetum's trees and trails, it is a sanctuary of beauty and tranquility. Liz Anderson, a volunteer at Bedgebury, said: 'It's my happy place. Everybody says that. I love trees and there's such a variety here. The vistas, having the inclines and looking down on the trees, the different light when you come here – it's the most beautiful place.' The pinetum celebrated its 100th birthday as only a tree collection knows how – with a ceremonial planting. Two Japanese hemlock trees have been put into the ground exactly 100 years to the day after the first curator, William Dallimore, planted the same species. The site is facing a grave threat, however. One of continental European forestry's worst foes, the European spruce bark beetle, flew into Kent in 2018 and is established just 300 metres away from the pinetum. If the beetle discovers the pinetum, it could destroy many species. If it moves north and reaches large commercial Sitka spruce plantations in northern England and Scotland, it could seriously damage Britain's future timber crops. Although Luscombe dreads the arrival of the beetle, he said the pinetum could become a vital real-world laboratory for assessing which species can best resist it. 'It could be devastating for the pinetum but actually we could be looking at the collection here and seeing what species are more susceptible than others to this disease and see which ones have more resistance and resilience. Sometimes, the bad happening is more for the greater good.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion A century is a blink of an eye for many trees and an avenue of teenage coast redwoods – a huge tree of soaring dimensions – will one day be a natural cathedral. Tiny conifers are the giants of the future. 'What I am doing now isn't for me, it's for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren,' said Luscombe, who has worked at Bedgebury for 25 years. 'There's not many jobs you can leave a living legacy after you're gone and that's one of the joys of this. In 100 years' time someone will be talking about the work my team have done and we'll all be long gone. There's something really rewarding about that.' And while Bedgebury attracts thousands of visitors when it puts up trails of festival lights at Christmas, Luscombe has one final message to the spruce-sceptics: 'A conifer is for life, not just for Christmas.' Vietnamese golden cypress (Cupressus vietnamensis) One of the rarest trees in the world, the first time it was ever grown from seed by horticulturalists was at Bedgebury. The pinetum plans to distribute its young trees to other botanic gardens around the world. Cathay silver fir (Cathaya argyrophylla) A rare conifer from China, where barely 100 live in the wild. Specimens only came to the west at the turn of the century. Bedgebury's specimen was the first to 'cone' in Britain – producing valuable seed for the next generation. Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) Now considered endangered in the wild, this vast tree of the American west coast has thrived since it was brought to Britain. Seed collected from the wild (to ensure genetic diversity) has been used to plant an avenue at Bedgebury, which will be spectacularly high in years to come. Sicilian fir (Abies nebrodensis) Europe's rarest tree with just 29 left in the wild. Five seedlings grown from wild seed were given to Bedgebury and are now 3 metres high and thriving. Yew (Taxus baccata) One of three British native conifers (alongside Scots pine and juniper), many of the oldest yews in Europe are found in churchyards where the trees predate the church – and predate Christianity. Bedgebury has taken cuttings from a huge ancient yew in nearby Ulcombe churchyard so this particular individual, which could be up to 2,000 years old, is cloned and will live on.
