SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A magazine for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance members just turned 100 years old.
First published in 1926, ZOONOOZ shared small updates about what was happening at the San Diego Zoo, such as new species or habitats. The first edition was eight pages long, and the cover featured a brown bear that had arrived at the zoo in 1917.
The first edition of ZOONOOZ ever printed (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance).
Besides its longevity, one of the most surprising things about ZOONOOZ is that it’s a palindrome — meaning it reads the same whether you read it forwards, backwards or even upside down.
For the last century or so, the magazine has been published through major historical events, like the Roaring Twenties and World War II.
It has captured historic milestones for the zoo that is now one of the most well-known in the world — from the first open-heart surgery performed on an ape to the opening of the Frozen Zoo.
The magazine, which has more than 1,000 issues, has even been preserved in the Library of Congress.
As the San Diego Zoo and the Wildlife Alliance expanded, the publication changed its name to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Journal in 2021.
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