Orange County Zoo, Native wildlife zoo in Irvine Regional Park, Orange County, US.

The Orange County Zoo covers 8 acres (3.2 ha) inside the 477-acre Irvine Regional Park in the city of Orange, California. It is owned and operated by the County of Orange and displays mainly North American species from the western and southwestern United States and northern Mexico, among them American black bear, bald eagle, bobcat, coatimundi, coyote, mountain lion, mule deer and turkey vulture. A barnyard area holds goats, Jacob sheep, doves and pheasants.

Red foxes were introduced and bred on the site by J.A. Turner in 1905. In 1920 Tustin rancher Sam Nau started a small animal collection with a pair of mule deer and built a pen for them; an alligator exhibit became the main attraction, and a bird exhibit with cockatoos, quail, doves and parakeets was added in 1935. The County of Orange opened the present Irvine Park Zoo in 1985.

Most animals arrive injured, orphaned, abandoned or confiscated as illegal pets, and keepers call them "animal ambassadors" because they can no longer survive in the wild. The barnyard holds goats, Jacob sheep, doves and pheasants; visitors buy grain to feed and touch the hoofed animals.

The zoo sits inside Irvine Regional Park in the city of Orange, and the County of Orange owns and runs it. A barnyard area holds goats, Jacob sheep, doves and pheasants; grain can be bought there to feed the animals, and the hoofed animals may be petted and touched. Mobile phone audio tours cover the exhibits, with keepers, the veterinarian, the education coordinator and the curator describing each animal's name, diet, origin and reason for being at the zoo.

A free cell phone audio tour lets you hear stories from animal keepers and veterinarians about each animal's life and care. These personal accounts reveal details about individual residents that you would not learn from simple signs or displays.