WASHINGTON — Leading zoos nationwide are creating online safaris by turning Webcams on their top attractions, including lion cubs, pandas, sharks and gorillas. The sites are a hit with kids, teachers and parents seeking rainy-day distractions for their broods.

"People from all over the the world visit it on a regular basis," said Gigi Allianic, spokeswoman for the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, of the zoo's live Webcam. The zoo installed the Webcam last year in its bear exhibit.

"I've never seen 4-year-olds sit quietly for so long staring at something," said pre-K teacher Kim Lesher of Annapolis, Md., whose charges watched Sumatran tiger cubs grow up for five months at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

From daily tiger-cam viewing, Lesher's students learned about the cubs' diet, family interactions, anatomy and growth. They drew pictures and named the cubs, too.

"Some of these kids don't see domestic animals or ever get a chance to go to the zoo," Lesher said. "This is a great way for them to get the experience in the classroom and at home."

The Woodland Park Zoo's Webcam features the 11-year-old bear brothers Keema and Denali. While the bears often wander far from the camera, you can get an up-close view when they lumber into the stream in their habitat. Check them out at www.zoo.org/bearcam/cam.html.

The National Zoo has the biggest site at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/webcams. It features streaming Webcams (which means you don't have to wait for a new image to load) that observe cheetahs, flamingos, naked mole rats, elephants, pandas and others. Unlike many sites, the National Zoo's Webcams are live 24 hours a day.

Pandas, the National Zoo animals most popular with visitors, are also the most popular on the Web, too. When zoo officials announced the start of the pandas' breeding season in March, panda-site visits more than doubled in the next week from 30,000 to 68,000 visits. Zoo volunteers even adjust the cam to keep the pandas in view.

If pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian aren't eating bamboo or playing, they're probably catching up on sleep. That's a good time to switch to the giraffe cam because giraffes only sleep for 30 minutes each day. That and lots of other facts about the animals on the Webcams are on the zoo's site.

The San Diego Zoo (www.sandiegozoo.org/videos/index.html)offers four live Webcams. They're on from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT. Viewers normally can check in on pandas, apes, elephants and polar bears, but only the panda cam is running right now, due to repairs to the others.

For an undersea experience, try Webcams at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (www.montereybayaquarium.org). Its sharks seem to enjoy swimming near the camera. The blackfooted penguins are especially enjoyable to watch as they vie for fish meals twice daily. The aquarium's cameras operate live from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. PDT. At other times, the video plays prerecorded clips.

Webcams at different zoos require different software. Most sites provide a link for a free software download as well as computer specifications necessary for optimal play.

Be patient, though. High Web traffic or a weak connection can slow image loading and leave you with a blank screen for a while.

Seattle Times staff reporter Sharon Pian Chan contributed to this story.