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California Academy of Sciences Put Me In The Zoo: California Academy of Sciences Review

Discussion in 'United States' started by DavidBrown, 30 Dec 2012.

  1. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Put Me In The Zoo: California Academy of Sciences Review

    Date of visit: December 27, 2012

    Bottom line: This place is truly Disneyland for any fan of biological diversity. It will likely hold the interest of anyone, at least for a while, regardless of whether they like animals and plants or not.

    The California Academy of Sciences is a unique facility located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It is a combination of natural history museum, aquarium, planetarium, and scientific research institution. The academy was established in 1853 and has had several physical incarnations. Its facility and collections were largely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. In 1989 another earthquake did severe damage to the buildings and the decision was made to tear down the existing museum and aquarium and build an entire new facility.

    Does this (kind-of) zoo satisfy the reviewer’s Inner-3-Year-Old by featuring his lifelong favorite animals, giraffes and elephants?

    Technically, yes. The California Academy of Sciences has a herd of mounted Masai giraffes in its main hall. These specimens were originally in the African mammal hall in the old museum building, which has now been replaced with a shiny new building. The Africa hall is one of the only parts of the new building that has been reconstructed to resemble the prior incarnation of the museum. The Masai giraffes were originally the centerpiece exhibit of the Africa hall in a replica of a savanna watering hole. This exhibit was replaced by a tank of living African penguins however, so the giraffes now “live” in the main hall of the building.

    There were never elephants in the original Africa hall. They now have a presence as a projection of a herd of elephants lumbering through the savanna backdrop of the diorama of Grevy’s zebras and gerenuks. It is a cool 21st century effect, and one that I have not seen in other natural history museum dioramas.

    The Africa hall is an interesting attempt to make a concept from the early 20th century relevant for 21st century audiences. Many of the dioramas in the original exhibit hall have been retained including mountain gorillas, wild dogs, lions, and various antelope species like Hunter’s hartebeest, sable, and roan. Interspersed in the hall are live African animal exhibits including savanna monitors, Jackson’s chameleons, Lake Victoria cichlid species, and African penguins. oi

    Does this zoo have any animals that would excite a zoo aficionado?

    The Steinhart Aquarium focuses on several biodiversity hotspots including the Amazon basin, the California coast, and the coral reefs of the Philippines. Some of the highlight species include giant Pacific octopus, green anaconda, flamboyant cuttlefish, and a cast of several hundred others. The other main live animal exhibit is a rain forest dome in which one walks up a spiral walkway through layers of rain forest from different parts of the world (Borneo, Madagascar, and Costa Rica). There are free-flying Costa Rican bird and butterfly species at the top of the dome and terraria with many reptile, amphibian, and invertebrate species along the spiral trail to the top of the dome. Likely there are several species here that any fish, marine invertebrate, reptile, and/or amphibian mammal enthusiast would like. If you like African megafauna and don’t mind seeing it in mounted form then there is lots for you here also.

    Does this zoo have any immersion exhibits that would impress a zoo aficionado?

    The rain forest dome isn’t especially naturalistic – you never feel like you are really in a forest, but it is immersive in the sense that it is very humid and there are butterflies all around you. The bottom of the rain forest exhibit is an aquarium tank filled with large fish and turtle species of the Amazon River. The tank has a walk-through tunnel that puts one in the middle of the “Amazon River”, and it is quite cool.

    One of the highlights of the new building is the “living roof” that has been planted with native California plants and now resembles various ecosystems that used to exist in San Francisco (and still do in pockets).

    Does this zoo have any good basic exhibits?

    The terrariums in the rain forest and most of the aquarium tanks in the Steinhart Aquarium are normal tanks that one sees in most zoos and aquariums. They are probably adequate homes for their inhabitants, but not especially spectacular. The Bornean gliding lizard and frog species in the rain forest are in tanks far too small for them to display this behavior if they were so inclined.

    Does this zoo have any exhibits that should be bulldozed?

    The whole facility opened in 2008 so everything is still pretty sparkling. The rain forest exhibit originally had a cave exhibit with bats, but they have been replaced with a water monitor so the original concept didn’t work for some reason.

    Does this zoo have any elements that make it particularly family friendly?

    The California Academy of Sciences is very family friendly. The penguin tank is built so that kids can get in close and watch the penguins swimming under water. There are interpretive programs and stations set up all over the facility with demonstrations for all ages. I saw an interpretive cart with Pleistocene mammal fossils that people could touch including a mammoth tooth and a saber-tooth skull cast.

    Does this zoo have any interesting plans for the future?

    There are always new exhibits coming and going. When the new building opened there was an exhibit on climate change. It has now been replaced with an exhibit on earthquakes. The highlight of the earthquake exhibit is a simulator that allows one to feel what the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes felt like in part. There are also exhibits illustrating how movement of continental plates (i.e., the drivers of earthquakes) affected the distribution of different groups of animals like ratites and marsupials as continents broke apart.

    Would a zoo aficionado like this zoo enough to go out of his or her way to visit it?

    Yes. There are enough exhibits on the evolution, ecology, behavior, and general natural history of all the major groups of plants and animals on Earth to make your head explode. There is a very good aquarium and an interesting rain forest exhibit. There is a digital planetarium with shows about planets, stars, life, the universe, and everything that is greatly worth experiencing. When I visited the show was about earthquakes and how they are generated. The digital dome surrounds one such that you feel like you are moving through the scenes presented. The highlight of the show is a real journey to the center of the Earth that allows one to see the crust of the planet and how the tectonic plates are crashing into each other. Anybody interested in natural sciences would be bereft of a world-class experience if they missed visiting the California Academy of Sciences while in the San Francisco area.
     
  2. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    very good. I like your reviews David.

    Do you know if the old museum lost any/many exhibits in the 1989 quake? Or was it primarily structural damage?

    And is the Bornean gliding lizard you mention a flying gecko or a flying dragon?
     
  3. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Thanks very much Chlidonias. The 1906 quake and fire pretty much destroyed the entire facility and collections. I think the 1989 quake mostly caused structural damage - I have not heard of any loss of the actual collection.

    The flying lizard is a flying dragon.
     
  4. dean

    dean Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    David I recall our old neighbours used to go to San Fransisco on holiday, and told me about a replica water lilly at the park, that was super sized and starting from the roots you looked up at the plant from a fishes view, is it still there? It was in the early/ 2000's sadly the only photos they had were thumbnail size on a mobile phone.
    Dean
     
  5. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    ooh that is exciting. I've never really heard of them being kept in zoos before. They always had a reputation for being impossible to keep alive in captivity but there are some private persons keeping them now. There's a thread on Zoochat about it somewhere.

    Do you have any photos of the lizard and its cage?
     
  6. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Hey Chlidonias, I may be mistaken about the lizard...I'll try and track down the details, but it may not be a Draco.
     
  7. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Hi Dean, there is a Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park that has real giant water lilies (amazon water lily leaves - victoria amazonica). Is this what you are thinking of perhaps? There is also a sculpture of one in the conservatory that sounds like it may be what you are thinking of: Giant Water Lily art glass sculpture by Stephen Hirt at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco
     
  8. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I think it is not a Draco after all.
    Global Species : Steinhart Aquarium (CA Acad of Science has them as housing Kuhl's flying gecko but no Draco, and geomorph's review from last year (http://www.zoochat.com/22/review-california-academy-sciences-220341/) also has Kuhl's flying gecko and no Draco. I found a press release from the Steinhart saying "flying lizards" but I think must refer to the geckos as well.
     
  9. dean

    dean Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Thanks for the info David, I think the glass sculpture is what they must have meant , though it's not what they described. Mind you how they saw a thing and how I saw the same thing was often worlds apart
    Dean
     
  10. Zooplantman

    Zooplantman Well-Known Member

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    David,

    not a mention of the large coral reef tank or the soft coast tank? Sting ray lagoon?
    The things that I most enjoyed were the big tank views downstairs and the fun of finding treasures in the Water Is Life gallery (also downstairs)
     
  11. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    There are so many cool pieces of this place that one could write an entire guidebook and likely miss things.

    Other neat things to look for are the mangrove forest and salt marsh in the main hall and the ivory billed woodpecker models in the cypress tree by the alligator swamp.
     
  12. Zooplantman

    Zooplantman Well-Known Member

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    Ah, good, I was a little afraid that somehow you'd missed the lower level! :rolleyes:
     
  13. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Chlidonias, I asked the Academy about the flying lizard and they confirmed that they have Kuhl's flying gecko, not a Draco species. Apologies for the confusion.
     
  14. zooboy28

    zooboy28 Well-Known Member

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    I have a couple of questions about the (generally excellent) CAS collection, after visiting earlier this year.

    -Does anyone know what the scientific name for the "orange spotted frog" displayed in a terrarium within the rainforest is?
    -Can anyone ID this bird species I photographed in the rainforest: http://www.zoochat.com/755/unknown-rainforest-bird-388254/ ?
    -What species of plated lizard is on display in the African Hall?
    -Is Glass Frog taxonomy that poorly understood that the CAS can only identify their animals to family level?
     
  15. dean

    dean Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I haven't seen the )range spotted frog you mention Zooby28 but 2 species come to mind Dendrobates histronicus, Often called the harlequin frog and Dendrobates lehmanni Though with all the recent taxonomic changes these names may be obsolete. hope this helps.
    dean
     
  16. DesertRhino150

    DesertRhino150 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I seem to recall reading somewhere that the 'orange spotted frog' at CAS was Nyctixalus pictus, also called the cinnamon tree frog.

    EDIT: They are definitely cinnamon tree frogs. Here is the blog article about them:
    http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/rainforest/?p=1010
     
  17. zooboy28

    zooboy28 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Dean, but they weren't poison dart frogs.

    Thanks DesertRhino, that's definitely what they were! I took photos of all the species' signs, but the scientific name for these guys didn't come out clearly enough to read unfortunately! :D
     
  18. TheEthiopianWolf03

    TheEthiopianWolf03 Well-Known Member

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    Has anyone seen the fruit bats in Osher rainforest or were they taken off exhibit? I heard around 2010 that they had fruit bats but don’t know if they still have them today.
     
  19. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The bats disappeared several years ago. The last time I was there there was an Asian water monitor in the former bat exhibit (that was also a few years ago, so I don't know if it is still in there).