Big Bear Valley’s 24/7 live cam of a bald eagle nest recently went viral after eagle couple Jackie and Shadow hatched three baby eagle chicks. Tens of thousands of online birdwatchers have tuned into the popular live cam for an unparalleled view of the birds.
As we kept up with the fascinating bald eagle family this week, we started to wonder what other animal live cams are out there, and it turns out there are endless feeds to keep an eye on. Read on for some live streams out of California, around the United States, and even as far as Costa Rica and Romania.
Live Penguin Cam at the California Academy of Sciences
This African penguin colony lives in a habitat at San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences. The museum operates multiple live cams of the enclosure, including an underwater view, where you can see them swimming, socializing, and feeding at 10am and 3:30pm PT daily. Don’t forget to check out the Academy’s other live cams including the Reef Lagoon, the Philippine Coral Reef, and the Farallon Islands.
📍 Location: California Academy of Sciences – San Francisco, California, United States
🎥 Watch more: Live cams at the California Academy of Sciences
Jelly Cam at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
From 7am to 7pm PT, California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium streams a live cam of their hypnotic jellies. See a smack of Sea Nettles (yes, we looked it up, a group of jellies is called a smack!) in the aquarium’s Open Sea exhibit as they wave their long, bright orange tentacles. While we love the Jelly Cam for a mesmerizing and relaxing watch, the aquarium operates numerous popular live cams of their penguins, sea otters, kelp forest, sharks, and more.
📍 Location: Monterey Bay Aquarium – Monterey, California, United States
🎥 Watch more: Live cams at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Kitten Rescue Cat Cam in Los Angeles
Explore Live Nature Cams set up a live cam in L.A.’s Kitten Rescue Sanctuary back in 2023. It’s been a great source of joy for cat lovers who tune in to see nursing cat moms with playful litters of kittens. All kittens and mothers on the live cam are available for adoption.
📍 Location: Kitten Rescue Sanctuary – Los Angeles, California, United States
🎥 Watch more: Kitten Rescue Los Angeles
Giraffe Cam at San Diego Zoo Safari Park
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park covers nearly 3 square miles in Southern California, and their Giraffe Cam lets you watch giraffes and rhinos around the watering hole at the African Plains habitat. The above video shows a two-hour snippet, but you can see the Giraffe Cam (plus more live cams including koalas and the only two platypuses outside of Australia) at the link below.
📍 Location: San Diego Zoo Safari Park – San Diego, California, United States
🎥 Watch more: Live cams at San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Channel Islands kelp forest
The National Parks Service and EXPLORE.org partnered to set up this kelp forest cam off the coast of Anacapa Island. The hypnotic feed shows one of California’s famous kelp ecosystems billowing back and forth with the current, with periodic appearances from native fish and other marine species.
📍 Location: Anacapa Island – Channel Islands National Park, California, United States
🎥 Watch more: Channel Islands Live Ocean Webcam (National Parks Service)
EagleCam by the National Conservation Training Center
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) operates a live cam of its 22-year-old bald eagle nest. During nesting season in winter and spring, NCTC broadcasts a live bi-weekly program where experts will fill you in on the latest eagle news. Keep an eye out for new hatchlings this month.
📍 Location: National Conservation Training Center campus – Shepherdstown, West Virginia, United States
🎥 Watch more: Read our article about the NCTC eagle nest live cam.
Ocean Voyager Cam at the Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium operates numerous webcams where you can watch their California sea lions, penguins, puffins, sharks, and more. The underwater Ocean Voyager cam provides a captivating look at their resident whale sharks, which are the largest fish species in the world, plus stingrays, sharks, and a goliath grouper. You can see them feeding in the video above, but the live stream is linked below.
📍 Location: Georgia Aquarium – Atlanta, Georgia, United States
🎥 Watch more: Live cams at the Georgia Aquarium
Giant Panda Cam at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. runs an adorable Giant Panda Cam where you can keep an eye on their newly-acquired panda residents, Bao Li and Qing Bao. The feed is live from 7am to 7pm daily and you’ll see a prerecorded video if you tune in during off-hours. The above video shows a short clip of Qing Bao, but the below link will take you to the live stream, plus more webcams of the zoo’s Naked Mole-rats, lions, and elephants.
📍 Location: Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute – Washington, D.C., United States
🎥 Watch more: Live cams at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo
Naledi Bush Lodge in Greater Kruger National Park
This lodge in South Africa offers a luxury safari experience where tourists can watch animals from a secluded vantage point. Luckily for us, they also run four live-streaming cameras at strategic spots on the Olifants River and watering holes, where you can keep an eye out for elephants, leopards, wild cats, buffalo, hyenas, hippos, and more.
📍 Location: Naledi Bush Lodge – Grater Kruger National Park, South Africa
🎥 Watch more: Live cams at Naledi Bush Lodge
Sloth TV at Toucan Rescue Ranch in Costa Rica
Costa Rican organization Toucan Rescue Ranch is dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing local wildlife including sloths, raptors, howler monkeys, and toucans. They collaborated with EXPLORE.org on the Sloth TV animal live cam, where you’ll watch sloths and other animals in the rehabilitation areas.
📍 Location: Toucan Rescue Ranch – San Josecito, Costa Rica
🎥 Watch more: Sloth TV by EXPLORE.org
Brown bear cam at Libearty Bear Sanctuary in Romania
Over 130 brown bears are living at Romania’s Libearty Bear Sanctuary, which is dedicated to rescuing brown bears from poor and abusive conditions in captivity. The sanctuary has over 69 acres of natural environment for the bears to explore, but the live cam is set up in a stationary position overlooking a pool of water where you may see them bathing or milling around.
📍 Location: Libearty Bear Sanctuary – Zarnesti, Romania
🎥 Watch more: Mangolinkcam Live Streaming Webcams