Caryota gigas - Giant Thai Mountain Fishtail Palm at the San Diego Zoo

It certainly is big!.....lovely tree...

Amblealice:

Yes, it's even bigger now...this photo was taken over a year ago. I'll have to take a new pic soon...to show the difference in growth.

That will be interesting to see.....

Amblealice:

I may take a photo of the two trees in this area...you can see part of the other tree's frond on the left.

Huge but those leaves also look very attractive. Didn't expect it to be as tall as that.

You can see the people below for scale. This tree is still a baby!

There's two Caryota gigas on each side of this bird aviary. You can see part of the frond on the left. There's several dozens of C. gigas at the San Diego Zoo. Also, there's several other tall species like: Caryota urens, ochlandra, mitis (a smaller species), obtusa and rumphiana.

i wonder if google maps would let me wander round the zoo? its nice when they plant put interesting plants into places.

what sort of bark does it have ~ does it feel off quite freely?

Google maps can take you anywhere. I'm sure you can see most of the San Diego Zoo on Google maps.

I have hundreds of photos from the San Diego Zoo posted on GoY. I belong to the Zoological Society, so I can visit the zoo anytime. It's only a 10 minute drive from my house.

That's great! Can you hear the animals from your house? I used to live about 3 miles from the Woburn wild animal kingdom who had lions but you never seemed to hear them beyond the enclosure!

LOL! No, I live 10 miles inland from the San Diego Zoo.

When I first move to San Diego I lived 3 miles from the zoo. However, I still could not hear the animals.

maybe roaring animals are louder in the imagination than in reality!!

That's probably true! :>)

:-))

very nice, what happened? why isn't it there anymore?

This whole area is under construction it's a new area with a huge waterfall. I think it'll be the largest man-made waterfall in the U.S.

I'm upset they took out the two giant fishtail palms.

I hope they have them stored somewhere until they can put them back. San Diego Zoo is very good at preserving and moving their trees. The plants are actually insured for more than the animals at the San Diego Zoo.

I'm sure they're being taken care of whoever has them.

The fishtail palms were probably more than 75' tall. They were a lot taller than in the photo from 2008.

The only problem with moving large fishtail palm is that
it prematurely causes them to bloom early (It's a monocarpic palm). After they bloom the palms dies (although, it can take more than 10 years for the palms to die after the long blooming cycle).