Walk With the Animals

There’s no need to stay home and watch Animal Planet on TV when you can have a wild and woolly weekend at some of these animal attractions:

Friday

Drop in on 44-year-old chimpanzee Toto and his 12 chimp friends at their new $5-million home at the Los Angeles Zoo. The “Chimpanzees of Mahale Mountains” exhibit, which opens today, is designed to resemble the animals’ natural habitat in Tanzania and includes an abandoned logging camp, a waterfall and a stream. (Not too shabby, huh?) A sawmill shed bordering the exhibit has a viewing area where visitors can get face to face with the cuties through large glass windows. Chimps are classified as great apes, a group that also includes gorillas and orangutans. But chimpanzees are the closest relatives to humans, with genes that are more than 98% the same as human genes. Hugging and kissing, cleaning one another’s faces, these chimpanzees are so human-like, you could watch them for hours. Griffith Park at Ventura and Golden State freeways. Daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Adults, $8.25; $3.25, children 2 through 12. (323) 644-6400.

Saturday

Welcome dozens of teddy bears to town this weekend at the Los Angeles Children’s Museum. “The Gund Centennial: 100 Years of Huggable Toys” showcases never-before-seen Gund memorabilia, including a 1912 mechanical crawling doll, a 1920s Felix the Cat and an assortment of bears, dogs, rabbits and other critters. Old catalogs, photos, patents and product sketches are also on display, as well as a teddy bear created for the centennial and valued at $100,000. The bear will be auctioned in New York on Oct. 15, with proceeds benefiting children’s charities. Families visiting the exhibit can help name the special bear, and whoever submits the winner will receive $1,000 worth of Gund products. 310 N. Main St., downtown. Weekends, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Mondays through Fridays, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ends Sept. 13. $5; free to children 2 and under. (213) 687-8800.

Sunday

Day-tripping to San Diego can be as exciting as going on an African safari with a visit to the Wild Animal Park. The 1,800-acre wildlife preserve offers views of herds of exotic animals as they might occur in their native homelands of Africa or Asia. The Wgasa Bush Line, a silent electronic monorail, skirts the edge of the savanna, providing five miles of unobstructed views of elephants, antelope, rhinos and giraffes. Walking tours of the preserve are also available.

The Sunrise Safari is a daybreak expedition that allows early risers to tour the park’s “Heart of Africa” on foot at 7:30 a.m., an hour and a half before the usual opening. Participants can observe cheetahs, Kikuyu colobus monkeys, wart hogs, okapis, greater and lesser flamingos, bonteboks and wattled cranes as they are waking up and eating their breakfasts. Visitors can also watch as keepers release animals into exhibits, and search for newborns in the field.

An outdoor pancake breakfast buffet is available at the Okavango Terrace, a dining area that overlooks the vast East African savanna. $6.95 for adults; $4.95 for children ages 3 to 11. Sunrise Safaris run daily through Sept. 7. Regular admission prices apply.

Are you more of a creature of the night? After the sun sets, fog and “fright lighting” set the mood for a trek among prehistoric giants at Dino Mountain. The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 7, features 20 life-size robotic dinosaurs set in a four-acre conifer forest. Visitors traverse a meandering trail through the forest to encounter the dinosaurs, which look, move and sound realistic. Other “Park at Dark” programs include sunset and nighttime monorail tours, African music and storytelling. Daily through Sept. 7. Last admission is at 8 p.m. The park is open until 10 p.m. Regular admission prices apply. $21.95 for ages 12 and older and $14.95 for ages 3 to 11. Ages 2 and younger are free. 15500 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido. (619) 234-6541 or (760) 747-8702.