Quick Escape: The Living Desert sizzles year round

Palm Desert is home to The Living Desert

*The article is being re-posted. To read the original, visit the San Diego News Network Website.

By Carl H. Larsen

It’s probably the only zoological gardens that can boast of having its own Rat Pack.

At The Living Desert in Palm Desert, Frank, Dean and Sammy are real rats who are put to work daily in the Wildlife Wonders Show in the Tennity Amphitheater.

From birds of prey to small mammals – such as the desert rats – the show features a few of the animals that make this unusual park home.

As the crowd waited for a recent animal show to begin, they were serenaded by a Frank Sinatra recording. How appropriate, I thought, for nearby Palm Springs was a stomping ground for some of the original Rat Pack, including Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

But the stars at this zoological preserve and garden are of a different kind – plants and animals found in one of the most forbidding environments: the desert.

The park says it’s the only one in North America to specialize in interpreting and conserving the world’s deserts by featuring an extensive collection of desert plant and animal life.

“We have some of the coolest animals from some of the hottest places,” said the animal show’s master of ceremonies.

The Living Desert

Approaching its 40th anniversary in 2010, The Living Desert is indeed a unique experience – reaching out to kids, plant and animal lovers, as well as those just seeking a leisurely day in the 1,200 acres set amid the beauty of the surrounding desert and nearby craggy mountains.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Schoolteacher Judy Bowlin, a resident of nearby Bermuda Dunes, remembers the park’s earliest days. Taking her students on a field trip, she recalled a visit in 1970 to the newly-formed desert preserve.

“There was absolutely nothing here except a picnic table, one building and maybe a water fountain,” she recalled.

Caught in a rut on an unpaved road, the school bus carrying Bowlin’s class broke down at the park.

Now, she said, The Living Desert has become a world-renowned zoological and botanical park.

In the early ’70s, residents of the Palm Springs area couldn’t understand the need for a park that would concentrate on the desert – when the desert was just outside everyone’s front door, Bowlin said.

But fast forward to today, and the foresight of the park’s founders is apparent. The open-air desert has largely disappeared from the Coachella Valley. Instead, there are five-star resorts, tennis and country clubs and a sea of houses, stores and restaurants that have pushed the desert to the outer edges of what has become a major urban area.

Museum growth

Amid this tide of development, The Living Desert has expanded greatly. It now has facilities to handle hundreds of visitors, including shuttles for those who may not want to walk on days when the thermometer climbs over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. A large staff of docents, drawn from the many retirees living in the area, lead tours and answer questions.

While the animal exhibits, including one featuring those cute meerkats that have captivated Disney and TV producers, draw many visitors, the park’s extensive gardens can be just as alluring. The plants are categorized in several ways: by geography, taxonomy (grouped by classification and not area), educational concepts (plants that attract bighorn sheep or tiny hummingbirds), and in a demonstration garden that shows desert landscape design. One garden features more than 50 species of palms from around the world.

The exotic garden includes plant life found in East Africa and unique plants found on the island of Madagascar.

Animals are hot

The animals remain the big draw, however, and not all of them like to be out in the dry, hot weather. These nighttime critters can be seen in the park’s After Sundown, an indoor exhibit simulating night during daylight visiting hours. This is the place to see bats, scorpions, screech owls, lizards and snakes that are on the prowl at night.

Largest of the outdoor animal exhibits is the rocky hillside that is home to bighorn sheep. It takes a practiced eye to find these sure-footed animals among the same-colored boulders. Those on display are peninsular bighorn sheep, an endangered species found in the rugged mountains of the Southern California desert. Naturalists have had a measure of success in building up the wild herds, which remain endangered.

In the middle of the California desert, I was a bit surprised to see giraffes on exhibit, but they are an integral part of the park’s African savanna exhibit. When it’s feeding time, visitors rush to watch the 16-feet-tall animals go for their food in feeders mounted on tall poles. They consume about 75 pounds of food a day, and as they eat, a docent explains how the tall creatures can be so graceful as they amble about their enclosure.

I found some personal favorites on a stroll through the exhibits, including the fennec fox, whose natural habitat is the deserts of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. At only 16 inches long and 3 pounds, it brought to mind a big-eared Chihuahua.

The caracal, or desert lynx, also drew my attention. It’s a medium-size cat with pointy ears that is found from central India into Africa.  With their ability to leap, these little guys can bring down several birds in one jump.

Wildlife hospital

One of the most interesting places in the entire park is its state-of-the-art wildlife hospital, opened in 2002. Tours are conducted through the facility, where medical procedures can be watched as they take place in five surgical suites, which might make the staff of a regular hospital envious. Here, the work can range from repairing a bird’s injured wing to cleaning teeth and getting blood samples from a sedated cheetah. Animals that are recuperating or recently born can be seen in enclosed-holding areas at the entrance to the hospital.

And then there’s Dewey, a 19-year-old acorn woodpecker. His treatment board reads: “I have a cracked beak, a broken wing (it’s healed), missing toes and cataracts in both eyes, but I’m still spunky.”

Kids’ play area

For kids, the park’s Gecko Gulch is the place to head. It’s a picnic area and play land with dunes, gold panning, underground animal burrows and climbing equipment in the shapes of a large cactus, snake and lizard.

Occupying a central place in the park is one of the most popular attractions, although a bit offbeat. It’s among the largest outdoor scale-model railroads. The LGB trains travel a circuit that includes more than a half-mile of track and an intricate trestle over a broad canyon. No plants or animals here, just the rapt attention of small boys and the wishful eyes of their dads.

If I had one complaint during my visit, it was occurred to me at the After Sundown exhibit. It made me wish I could experience this seemingly hostile desert setting at night, when many of the animals are more active than during the heat of day.

But I found I was in luck. The Living Desert offers a “Starry Safari” nighttime sleepover for entire families. Accommodations are in a tent village, with each tent accommodating up to four people.

Overnight visitors bring sleeping bags or blankets, toiletries and a change of clothes. Dinner is included as well as a guided night tour of the park. The evening is capped off with a campfire and a snack of s’mores. Early the next morning, another guided tour is offered as well as a continental breakfast. And then you’re off on your own to explore the park all day.

Just the thought of it makes me want to be a desert rat.

IF YOU GO

The best time to visit The Living Desert is after the heat of summer fades. Located at 47-900 Portola Ave. in Palm Desert, the park is open every day from Aug. 30 to June 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Summer hours, from June 16 to Aug. 30, are 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Admission prices vary, depending on season and the age of the visitor. General admission for adults in the regular season is $12.50.

Food is available in the park, but bring sunscreen, a bottle of water and a hat anytime of the year. Check the website for more information and to check for discount coupons: www.livingdesert.org.