The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens is a medium-sized zoo in the Palm Springs area dedicated to preservation of and education about desert wildlife and ecosystems. In addition to housing desert animals around the globe, it also is home to a spectacular botanical collection from desert regions across the globe, from Madagascar to the local Mojave Desert. Founded in 1970, the Living desert eventually hopes to have sections representing African, North American, Australian, and South American deserts. At the present time, North America is complete and Africa is nearly done.

The North America section of the park is extensive, and includes many botanical and animal exhibits. The highlight is Eagle Canyon, a large loop exhibit which both houses endangered North American animals including wolves and eagles and provides a comparison between North American and African desert species (these include swift & fennec foxes and bobcats and caracals). Highlights of this exhibit include a majestic golden eagle, the oldest mountain lion in captivity, javelinas, thick billed parrots, and endangered Mexican wolves. Other animals to be found in North America include coatis, bighorn sheep (on a natural, 3-acre hill), red tailed hawks, coyotes, desert tortoises, and loggerhead shrikes, as well as several different bird displays. Additional displays include the state-of-the-art wildlife hospital where you can watch Lviing Desert vets actually doing check-ups and medical procedures on animals, and the education center, a great place for kids to learn about desert ecosystems. Be sure to check out the new Gecko Gulch, a play area for children. The numerous spectacular gardens here should not be missed either.

In the entry plaza there is a small exhibit which showcases small desert animals from around the world. The main highlight of this building is a nocturnal setting which features North American desert animals such as Gila monsters, screech owls, corn snakes, and a huge variety of rattlesnake species. There are also a number of smaller, daylit exhibits which house animals from all over the world, including North America. These include many different types of arthropods - tarantulas, scorpions, Eleodes beetles (stink bugs), and cockroaches, as well as small reptiles such as desert iguanas, African geckos, and Indian star tortoises. Two exhibits house African spurred and desert tortoise hatchlings (you can see the adults of these species elsewhere at the Living Desert).

The African section of the park is extensive. In a number of large yards, it features a good selection of desert hoofstock - Arabian oryx, Grevy's zebra, and two mixed antelope-bird exhibits, one with mhorr and slender horned gazelles from North Africa living alongside crowned cranes and yellow billed storks from Africa, the other with Cuvier's gazelle and a female Abyssinian ground hornbill. A number of smaller animal exhibits house serval cats, sand cats, Arabian wildcats, fennec foxes (the smallest species of wild dog in the world), meerkats, and rock hyraxes (small, rodent-like relatives of the elephant). Other yards house predators - African wild dogs (their exhibit features a very neat feature in which you can walk down and be inside the exhibit, surrounded by glass panels), cheetahs, bat eared foxes, and aardwolves (small, insect-eating relatives of the hyena). In a small, very pleasant East African garden can be found a number of bird exhibits, which feature endangered Waldrapp ibises, cinereous vultures, and a number of mixed-species bird enclosures (one of these is home to a dik-dik, a kind of miniature antelope).

The highlight exhibit of the African section is Village Wa Tu Tu. This replication of a tribal village in the scrub deserts of East Africa offers a restaurant, a small gift shop, and a number of very nice animal exhibits. The village is home to weaver birds, addax antelope, extremely endangered and found in North Africa; dromedary camels, spurred tortoises, a striped hyena conservation center, and a very nice leopard exhibit. Next to the leopard exhibit is the District Commissioner's house, a recollection of the days when East Africa was governed by the British Empire. This house serves as a private party location, and includes your own private window onto the leopard exhibit. Should the party be at night, the Living Desert can spotlight the exhibit so you can still see the leopards. This has hosted everything from wedding receptions to birthday partys. Also in Village Wa Tu Tu is a petting area which features a number of rare African breeds - Nigerian dwarf goats, Jacob's sheep, Nubian goats, miniature donkeys, and ankole cattle. The ankoles are particularly fun to see, with awkwardly long horns and a stout body. Only the Nigerian dwarfs and Jacob's sheep are actually available for touching, although this is plenty (they've got about 20 of each).

The Living Desert's newest animal habitat is a huge, three-acre savannah which is home to reticulated giraffes and ostriches. This represents the first phase of the final development of the zoo's Africa region, the East African savannah. By 2008, this new undertaking should bring animals like baboons, lions, black rhinos, and crocodiles to the Living Desert, so be on the lookout for new developments.

Other features of the Living Desert you may want to check out are the spectacular wildlife wonder show, held at 10 and 2 daily and featuring a myriad of desert animals, from hawks to porcupines to bighorn sheep; the spectacular LGB model trains, which run in a huge plot nearly 1/4 of an acre large (this includes the official longest miniature train trestle in the world, and has both American West and European sections); and the shuttle tours, which cost $4.00 for an all-day ticket and let you get on and off at designated stations whenever you want, all day.