We love field trips, but sometimes organizing an excursion just can’t happen. Fortunately, we live in a time when technology can bring the excitement to us. While no one enjoys life during a pandemic, a silver lining is that many places have put in the effort to bridge the gap for visitors at home. As such, we’re able to share this list of 15 fantastic zoo virtual field trips you can take from anywhere.
San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo has a “Watch and Learn” section on their website where students can check out the burrowing owl cam, giraffe cam, elephant cam, and many more!
Atlanta Zoo
While the Atlanta Zoo’s zoo cam is dedicated to pandas, they offer many videos and activities that feature bird watching, sloths, lemurs, monkeys and more!
Reid Park Zoo
Located in Tucson, Arizona this zoo features a variety of delightful zoo cams designed to give kids and up close look at elephants, giraffes, grizzly bears, lions, and more.
Tembe Elephant Park
In a remote area of South Africa, you’ll find the Tembe Elephant Park. Renowned for having the largest elephants in the world, this cam offers sights such as sand forests and wetlands, leopards and rhinos, and of course, elephants.
GRACE Center
This extensive cam takes us inside the gorilla forest corridor in the Democratic Republic of Congo while connecting the habitat with the night quarters at the The Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE).
Houston Zoo
Take a virtual field trip down to Texas and enjoy the live webcams set up by the Houston Zoo, allowing you to peer into the lives of giraffes, gorillas, elephants, and flamingos.
Explore the Arctic
Head to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada to witness the annual polar bear migration. Discovery Education has teamed up with Polar Bears International to host a series that explores some of the biggest questions about the Arctic.
Oregon Zoo
Bring your virtual classroom to life with animals from the Oregon Zoo! Videos are aligned to different subject content areas listed on the page. New videos are also posted regularly on the zoo’s social media channels. A few times every week they also go behind-the-scenes for a live interview with animal-care staff. Each live video is accompanied by a kid-approved activity related to the featured animal.
Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari
While the Cincinnati Zoo is closed, they’ll be live-streaming from the zoo every weekday at 3PM EDT. Each stream will highlight one of the zoo’s amazing animals and include an activity that can be done from home.
PBS Zoo Field Trip
Let’s all go to the zoo with PBS LearningMedia! At Zoo Miami, Penny and the KidVision VPK kids wash rhinos, feed giraffes, study a zebra’s stripes, and ride a camel. Lions and tigers and apes, oh my.
International Wolf Center
The cool wolfpack cam live-broadcasts the adventures of four ambassador wolves: Denali, Boltz, Axel, and Grayson. The exhibit stretches across 1.25 acres and includes two dens, a filtered pond, and a forested area.
San Antonio Zoo
While the San Antonio Zoo virtual field trips aren’t free (you can choose to pay a one-time fee or sign up for a low-cost membership), they are very engaging. Enjoy virtual encounters with okapis, hippos, rhinos, and more!
Dallas Zoo
From virtual visits and chats with staff, to showing what the animals are up to and posting activity ideas from our education and conservation teams, the Dallas Zoo’s “BringTheZooToYou” web series is perfect for a virtual field trip!
Australia Zoo
Home of the late Steve Irwin, best known as the Crocodile Hunter, the Australia Zoo is now managed by his late wife, Terri, and children, Bindi and Bob. This fantastic YouTube channel offers captivating videos of some of the world’s most fascinating animals.
Smithsonian’s National Zoo
This zoo virtual field trip takes us to the nation’s capital. Check out animal cams that share a glimpse into the daily lives of black-footed ferrets, naked mole rats, giant pandas, and more!
Did we miss one of your favorite zoo virtual field trips? Share it with us, and we might just add it to this list!
Also, check out Best Field Trip Ideas for Every Age and Interest (Virtual Options Too!)
