You’ll see American Bison, kudus, watusis, springboks, gemsboks, wildebeests, gazelles, barasinghas, aoudads, waterbucks, and more as you drive through Tatonka Range, the first area of the ranch. Many of the animals are incredibly friendly, but they are wild animals, and those big teeth don’t mix well with little hands and fingers. The animals, including the ones with big, long horns and tall antlers, will try stick their heads in your window, even when their horns or antlers are too big to fit. Many will try, but the ranch advises you to simply drop the feed on the ground. Note: it’s not smart to let the animals eat out of your hand. You’ll be given a bag of feed with your admission (you can also buy more so that everyone in your car has their own stash), and now’s the time to share it with your new friends. I’m one of the animals that doesn’t always have manners and the signs you’ll see at the ranch are true: I do bite, so hand over the food and no one will get hurt.Īnd then the fun begins: as you drive through the ranch (five miles per hour for the safety of the animals-and yes, they’ll walk in front of your car, so keep that in mind as you explore), animals will approach your vehicle to say hello and see what you might have for them. Arriving early also means fewer human visitors and cars, so you can drive through the ranch multiple times with almost no interruption and the animals are ready to greet you. The animals are out and about enjoying their morning, especially on a cool spring morning like our recent visit. The two attractions are separate properties and separately owned. Thanks to great signage, you won’t have trouble finding your way to the entrance gate, which happens to be next to Natural Bridge Caverns. Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch is on Natural Bridge Caverns Road off of FM 3009 in far north San Antonio, so head north, take exit 175 off of IH-35, and head left on FM 3009. For details on hours and admission, visit here. The ranch offers annual passes and military discounts (active and retired) and often features coupons for weekday visits. during much of the summer, the ranch is great fun for kids of all ages. Open daily from 9:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M., with an extra hour until 6:00 P.M. It’s a fun way to see animals in a natural habitat, and you’ll love seeing how excited your children get when a zebra sticks his head in your car window. We’ve fallen in love with Buddy, but to be honest, we love all of the animals at the ranch, and you will too. He is a ham, loves people, and will do his best to stretch his neck to reach you over the fence when you talk to him. Buddy’s mom didn’t have enough milk to feed two babies, so the staff took Buddy under its wing, nursing him and watching him grow. Buddy hanging out during a recent educational event at the ranch.Īnd at the heart of all of the effort is Buddy, the male twin you can see hanging out near the Longneck Learning Center, the facility that the ranch uses for educational programming. Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch is working to educate the public about giraffes while also working to support giraffe research in Africa. At that pace, in the next decade, there won’t be any giraffes in nature left for our children to enjoy. How is that possible? Half of the world’s giraffes have been lost in the last 15 years, and more than 400,000 giraffes have perished in the last 40 years due to the loss of their habitat, tribal violence across Africa, and other issues. There are 500,000 elephants in Africa, but only 80,000 giraffes. Buddy the giraffe hanging out with an even taller friend. You hear about elephants, rhinos, and so many other animals being endangered, but you probably haven’t heard about the challenges facing the world’s giraffe population. As they shared news of the birth and worked to raise the twins, the plight of the giraffe population hit home. Their birthday was May 10th, making it the perfect day to now be celebrated as Texas Giraffe Day. The pair was only the ninth known set of living giraffe twins born in captivity. In 2013, one of their giraffes gave birth to twins, something they had no idea was so unusual. If you have an animal lover in your midst, it’s a must-see destination, and I’ve got the scoop you need to make it a great safari for your little animal fans.įirst, let’s talk giraffes because they’re one of the animals you’ll see at the ranch and, well, they’re really cool! Today is the first ever Texas Giraffe Day, and it came to be thanks to the folks at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. The ranch, covering more than 450 acres, is home to more than 500 animals representing more than 45 species of native, exotic and endangered wildlife from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America, and North America, including giraffes.
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