Santa Ana Zoo Majors In Monkey Business

It’s the kind of science-oriented humor that Gary Larson, creator of “The Far Side” comic strip, might enjoy.

A caller telephones a zoo and explains to the receptionist that he’d like to speak with Diana Guenon. If he were calling the Santa Ana Zoo, he’d learn that Diana Guenon is there, but can’t come to the phone because she is a West African monkey.

The zoo, which is celebrating its 40th year, has more than its share of monkeys, with about 60 of its nearly 400 animals in residence being of the primate family.

It was a stipulation of Joseph E. Prentice, who donated the land now occupied by the zoo, that at least 50 monkeys be present at all times. Why? Ron Glazier, who became director of the facility early this year, believes Prentice simply had a fondness for monkeys.

The zoo, which sits on 19 acres bordering the Santa Ana Freeway and First Street, is about to grow. Within the next decade, funds permitting, it will utilize about twice its current developed space of slightly more than eight acres, Glazier said.

The initial project will be the addition of Amazon’s Edge, the first of what may be several areas with a South American theme. “We hope to be finished by next year,” Glazier said. “It will have black howler monkeys and several capybaras (a dog-sized South American rodent). The idea is for it to resemble a South American riverbank.”

That attraction will be on the southwestern side of the zoo, near the current entrance and gift shop.

The second proposal is for a Patagonian desert shoreline, designed to resemble the Chilean coast. Among its inhabitants will be Magellanic penguins, similar in appearance to their Antarctic cousins but more able to handle the warmer climate of Southern California.

Many of the long-range plans for the zoo involve areas that will not be visible to the public, such as a veterinary work area and other improved staff facilities. Because it is a division of the city’s Recreation and Community Service Agency, the zoo is dependent in large part on the city’s budget for any improvements.

“We often receive assistance through federal or state grants,” Glazier said, “but our two primary funding sources are the city and the nonprofit Friends of the Santa Ana Zoo.”

That group, open to the public at a cost of $25 per year, organizes educational programs, provides docents and workers for the zoo gift shop and raises funds in other ways.

“It costs just over $1 million a year to operate the zoo,” Glazier said. “That’s not as much as some of the larger, more exotic zoos, but our food cost is $38,000 a year. It could be much higher, but most of our animals are fairly inexpensive in terms of what they can eat.”

Other than monkeys, what does the zoo offer the 250,000-plus visitors who drop by each year? The first thing most people will spot is the newly painted children’s zoo area.

Not particularly rare, but certainly lovable, is a larger-than-average rabbit that leaves his spot at the back of his pen and hops toward a vending machine in a corner when he sees visitors approaching it.

The machine dispenses a handful of alfalfa pellets for 25 cents, and the rabbit’s appearance suggests he gets all the alfalfa he can use.

Sheep, African pygmy goats, a desert iguana, Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, a red-tailed hawk and a few glass-case enclosed snakes round out the children’s area, which was expanded last month by the opening of a goat yard.

Continuing north on the zoo’s primary north-south path, visitors cross a bridge over a pond that contains dozens of brightly colored koi and is lined with bamboo and other tropical plants. At one side of the pond is a sign asking, “Is the koi related to the goldfish?” and then answer that it is not.

Such signs appear throughout the zoo. One tells visitors that porcupines don’t really shoot their quills; another suggests that wild animals generally don’t make good pets.

Still another asks if the ostrich and the rhea are related, and answers, “Not even close,” pointing out that the birds are from different continents--the ostrich from Africa and the rhea from South America--and that, sometimes standing 8-feet tall, the ostrich is as much as 3 feet taller than the rhea.

Glazier enjoys incorporating such information into the visitor’s experience, suggesting that people “come to a place like the zoo for recreation, but education is important, as well. We try to pick out things that are interesting, maybe eliminate a few misconceptions.”

Back on the path, visitors soon reach the bird area, with brightly colored toucans, peacocks, parrots and finches, as well as rheas. Black Australian swans join emus and wallabies as part of the zoo’s collection of animals from that island continent.

It is in the area of primates, however, that the zoo really shows its diversity. For those who think of all such animals as, well, just monkeys, Santa Ana has such exotic species as black-capped capuchins, Celebes crested macaques and the red-handed tamarin, a monkey that weighs no more than a pound fully grown.

Another sign tells visitors that the ring-tailed lemur, which somewhat resembles a raccoon, is closer in its family history to the monkeys, as it is a primate.

The Santa Ana Zoo is as much a place for relaxing as for visiting the animals. Acacia trees line the walkways (their leaves provide a diet supplement for many of the monkeys), and picnic benches are found throughout the grounds. Pansies, poppies and other brightly colored flowers are particularly prominent at this time of year, and the waterfowl pond is surrounded by ferns, bamboo and tropical plants.

Returning to the entrance, visitors pass an open field used on Saturdays and Sundays for elephant rides, available for an additional fee. Because the elephants are commuters to the zoo (they belong to a private owner-trainer), their schedule can vary.

The park’s long-range plan, called Zoo 2002, calls for acquisition of two additional acres north of the current site and relocation of the parking lot. Additionally, as are most zoos, the Santa Ana facility is moving away from bars and cages and toward an environment in which the animals’ wild habitat is simulated.

“These displays must also be safe and convenient for the animals,” Glazier said, “and provide for their psychological and physical needs.”

Much of Glazier’s work, as well as that of his 12 full-time and 12 part-time employees, deals with programs as well as facilities.

“We’re a member of the American Assn. of Zoological Parks and Aquariums,” Glazier said, “and we’re involved in a lot of educational work.”

Such work also entails maintenance of a “zoo mobile,” which is driven to schools throughout the city, and summer camps for children age 6 through 13.

The zoo is open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the remainder of the year. Admission is $2 for adults, and 75 cents for children and those over 60.