If snakes and lizards are your bag, you're in luck -- the LA Zoo is opening a new home for reptiles and their scaly ilk. Called the LAIR (Living Amphibian, Invertebrates, and Reptiles), it will feature six exhibits that will house over 60 species, including snakes, poison dart frogs, giant horned lizards and banded iguanas. more ›

Actress Betty White recently celebrated her 90th birthday, and to honor one of entertainment's most respected young ladies, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) arranged to name the Los Angeles Zoo's new baby orangutan after White's "Hot in Cleveland" character "Elka." more ›

A woman visiting the LA Zoo yesterday decided to climb over ditches and protective barriers in order to commune with the elephants. KTLA reports that the woman, whose name hasn't been released, announced to onlookers that she was "going to go pet the elephants now," then proceeded to climb over several fences and through a ditch or two before reaching the gentle giants. more ›

Los Angeles is broke, and officials are trying to get creative to find ways to bring in some revenue. The latest scheme, touted by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his team, is to allow advertising in city parks and the L.A. Zoo. more ›

A new promo for the L.A. Zoo shows an adorable, bald-headed orangutan with the tagline: "Let's just be friends." Perhaps the 6-year-old orangutan Berani was looking for a friend when she escaped from the mesh netting that stands between the orangutan and the public at the zoo around noon today. more ›

Lulu, a female Sumatran tiger at the L.A. Zoo, gave birth to three male cubs on August 6. Zoo staff made the heartbreaking discovery on Monday that one of the cubs has died. Though a necropsy indicated that the cub sustained head trauma, veterinarians are unable to determine how the trauma occurred. more ›

Monday blues? Still hungover from your Sunday bottomless-Mimosa brunch? A general curmudgeon? These photos from the Los Angeles Zoo of some of the newest animals to join their fold have the potential to melt your cold, dark heart. more ›

For as advanced as we humans are, it’s a wonder that it took us this long to come up with the idea of Brew at the Zoo, last weekend’s craft beer bonanza at the LA Zoo. As the sun went down on Friday, a few local bands turned up the sound and a few thousand hop-heads turned up at the front gates of the zoo for a taste of the taps from more than a dozen craft brewers. more ›

Ever want to knock back a few delicious craft brews and roam around the Los Angeles Zoo? A special nighttime 21+ event next month is the inaugural annual beer tasting festival taking place right where Angelenos can visit their favorite friends in the animal kingdom. more ›

At the brink of extinction, the mountain yellow-legged frog, a once plentiful SoCal critter, has a new hope in population replenishing. The Los Angeles Zoo announced Thursday that it successfully bred over 200 of the rare, native tadpoles to be released into the wild," notes SoCal WIld. more ›

A male lion at the LA Zoo, Lionel, has passed away, the Zoo announced today. At 23, Lionel was considered old for a lion. He had been treated in recent months by the Zoo's veterinary team for neurological difficulties and urinary incontinence, and officials decided to euthanize him on Saturday. more ›

A one-time circus performer and 20-year resident of the Los Angeles Zoo, Ruby, an African elephant who moved to a Northern CA sanctuary in 2007 amid controversy over her habitat at the Los Angeles Zoo, died on Tuesday at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) elephant sanctuary in San Andreas. She was 50. more ›

Looks like city figured out how to temporarily solve a problem like Maria by moving the famous Echo Park goose to the Los Angeles Zoo during upcoming construction and rehab at the lake, reports ABC Local. But what will this mean for the daily walk/fly she takes with BFF Dominic Ehler?! Is he moving there too? more ›

The San Diego Zoo welcomed a lil' hippo baby to their herbivore family on Wednesday morning after a two-hour water birth in front of zoo visitors at the hippopotamus compound, reports ABC Local and the AP. The otherwise reclusive calf is staying close to its mother and doesn't want its art and style to be judged by people quick to gender stereotype. The sex has yet to be determined and the hippo, preferring anonymity and aliases, has not yet been named. The hippo's parents Funani and Otis were brought to San Diego from the Los Angeles Zoo two years ago, and despite not getting along very well, they began to mate in April. Typical. Welcome, hipster hippo! more ›

Didn't know Ms. Legally Blonde was a monkey? It's true. Many famous people are actually monkeys: Josh Roloway, Christina Aguerezas, Barbara Mandrill, Jessica Langur, Marmosetduke, Spidermonkeyman, Howler Mandel, El DeBrazzas, Tamarin Diaz... Even historical figures like Christopher Colobus and Capuchin Kangaroo were monkeys. more ›

In 2 days, 18 hours, 29 minutes and 33 seconds, the all-new, $42 million dollar Elephants of Asia exhibit at the L.A. Zoo will officially open. For many, this much-anticipated opening is serious cause for celebration as the goal of the exhibit is to shed more light on the plight of Asian elephants and encourage their protection. more ›

A judge has ruled that the L.A. Zoo can move forward with its plan to open a controversial new elephant exhibit scheduled to debut on Dec. 16, reports KTLA. However, the lawsuit to stop the expansion filed by late actor Robert Culp will also move forward. more ›

The Los Angeles Zoo officially welcomed some August babies to the public this week -- a Masai giraffe, a male Calamian deer and two Chacoan peccaries. Head to Griffith Park and meet your new neighbors, and don't forget to check out the baby Komodo dragon hatchlings, a variety of exotic hoof stock in the nursery and the first ever harbor seal pup born at L.A. Zoo. Also this week, Betty White, long-time supporter and trustee of GLAZA was named Chairman of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association. more ›

The first of 22 Komodos hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo on August 8th. According to the zoo's press release, "Less than 10 zoos in North America have been able to breed Komodos; this marks the L.A. Zoo’s first success at breeding them." It was especially exciting for the zoo after a disappointing attempt in January, when only 22 out of 23 eggs hatched. more ›

For this first time in the L.A. Zoo's history, komodo dragons have been successfully breeded. Since August 8th, when the first one poked through its egg, 22 have seen the light of day. But not is all easy for the 14- to 20-inch hatchlings: "Komodos are cannibalistic and usually eat their young and eggs of their own species, so zoo officials say staying alive is tricky for a hatchling," explains the Associated Press. more ›

A Guide to Great LA Events this Week: Music at the LA Zoo, Outfest, Old Pasadena Film Fest, InkSlam, Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, Grand Performances and Music on the Santa Monica Pier more ›

Betty White is this year's "it girl." She has a new sitcom, "Hot in Cleveland," recently made an acclaimed appearance on Saturday Night Live, and unveiled her "Naked Dog" for Pink's Hot Dogs. Now it appears that she is even more popular than the world championship Lakers. At last weekend's GLAZA benefit, courtside seats were auctioned off at $8,000 whereas lunch and a tour of the zoo with Betty White fetched a cool $10,000. more ›

The Beastly Ball is on the books for 2010, and The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association's long-running fundraiser got a juicy preview yesterday morning in Griffith Park with a little help from Pink's hot dogs and the LA Zoo and Botanical Gardens' collection of gorgeous gorillas. more ›

The rare 50-day-old condor chick at Pinnacles National Monument last week was found to have "extremely high levels of lead in its blood," the National Park Service is reported today. Fatal lead poisoning is one of the factors that brought the California Condor's status as an endangered animal in 1967. more ›

Reggie the alligator made headlines in 2007 when the former pet was retrieved from his makeshift home in Harbor City's Machado Lake and taken to live at the LA Zoo. more ›

Although you can see them wandering around locally in the Angeles National Forest, it's not often you would come upon a baby bighorn sheep. Luckily, the L.A. Zoo is a partner in a program ensuring their endangered population's (.pdf) survival and today they announced the birth of a lamb. more ›

Native Californian actor Robert Culp, beloved for his years paired with Bill Cosby in the 60s series I Spy, and later for his role as Ray Barone's father-in-law on Everybody Loves Raymond, has died. He was 79. Culp was walking this morning in his Hollywood neighborhood when he fell and struck his head, according to LA Now. The actor was discovered by a jogger who called 911, but Culp was pronounced dead at Queen of Angels Hospital. Recently Culp was heavily involved in the movement to oppose the construction of an elephant exhibit at the LA Zoo; last year he spoke before the City Council calling the zoo's plans a "shameless political boondoggle." more ›

"There just aren't unlimited options here," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told the L.A. City Council when he visited for a two-hour Q&A session. "We can't continue to say no to everything. We can't say no to layoffs, no to furloughs, no to department eliminations. . . . The fact is we can't sustain this business model." more ›

With a $98-million deficit still on the books for this fiscal year--a $408 million shortfall is predicted next year--Los Angeles city officials are likely going to be looking at more ways to balance the budget. In the past, we've all experienced these cuts with higher parking meter rates, more expensive parking tickets and the continuing loss of city services as 2,400 employees retire early with positions not being replaced, to name a few. more ›

The Los Angeles Zoo recently received a little surprise when a female Kikuyu colobus monkey on contraceptives gave birth on November 27th. The sex of hasn't been identified yet, but it weighed about a pound and measured around eight inches long. "Because breeding is closely monitored to comply with the Species Survival Program (SSP) and the L.A. Zoo*s colobus monkeys are genetically well represented in North American zoos, the mother was placed on implant contraceptives in October 2008," explained the Zoo's public information officer, Jason Jacobs, in a news release. "They were meant to be effective for a period of two years, which is why this adorable baby was such a surprise for the Zoo!" more ›