SAN DIEGO - A ceremony was held Friday to mark the completion of the $45 million "Elephant Odyssey" exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.
The 7.5-acre Harry and Grace Steele Elephant Odyssey exhibit, which opens to the public on Saturday, is home to more than 35 species of animals, including six Asian elephants and one African elephant.
Zoo officials, representatives of conservation groups and guests were on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the habitat, with "Entertainment Tonight" co-host Mark Steines acting as emcee.
Steines said he was "honored to help open a brand-new exhibit and work with a variety of cool animals. I am able to share this with my little boys, and I can tell you this unique experience has made me a hero in their eyes."
The exhibit features a 137,000-gallon pool, rolling hills and an elephant care center. The animals will have access to heaters, shelter and shade during inclement weather.
There are also replicas of now-extinct prehistoric animals, like the Columbian mammoth, that roamed San Diego thousands of years ago.
Also calling the exhibit home are jaguars and California condors, which until now could only be seen at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park.
Packing Their Trunks
Earlier this month, three elephants were moved into the San Diego Zoo's new Elephant Odyssey exhibit, joining four other pachyderms previously relocated from the Wild Animal Park.
Tembo, Sumithi and Devi were put in crates before being lifted by crane onto the back of flatbed trucks for the short drive to the west side of the zoo, where the new exhibit is located.
"We've been preparing for this move for a long time," said Jeff Andrews, the San Diego Zoo's elephant program manager. "It's a very big accomplishment for the San Diego Zoo to move these elephants into an exhibit designed especially with their needs in mind."
The 7.5-acre Elephant Odyssey exhibit is scheduled to open to the public on May 23. The $45 million exhibit features a 137,000-square-foot pool, rolling hills, mechanical trees, shaded areas and elephant showers.
Four elephants were moved two weeks earlier from the Wild Animal Park in Escondido to the exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.
