CA Academy of Science in SF 1/20/2010

These are pictures from a mid-week visit to Golden Gate Park and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA. The third Wednesday of the month admission is free.

The newly redone facility has a living roof, rainforest environment, planetarium, aquarium, African Hall, and other displays. It's worth a visit.

The new planetarium is more like an IMAX than the familiar domed room of the past.

Photos are by George Hamma (c) 2010. If you want prints, click on the "Buy" button.

The entry to the museum includes an assembled dinosaur skeleton.
A whale skeleton hangs above the Climate Change area.
The Rainforest is inside a plastic dome that keeps the butterflys and himidity inside.
The rainforest exhibit includes many reptiles.
The Borneo Caves bat display has a darkened cave where the bats are active, flying around.
Camouflage is a major survival strategy.
This frog is equipped to hide in plain sight.
This frog looks like a leaf.
A display of carnivorous plants covers one wall at the lowest rainforest level.
From the bottom of the ramp that winds to the top of the rainforest dome, you can see the canopy.
The Amazon is sumulated for the many fish.
There are many beautiful butterflies nearby for the visitors to view, in this case a blue morpho.
It's fun to see the
A pair of macaws were beautiful to watch.
This giant owl butterfly thought George would be a fine place to rest - or perhaps it sensed his sweet nature.
Almost all displays have detailed information nearby.
The Sambava tomato frog was fairly unusual.
This praying mantis disguises its shape with leaf-like decorations.
This snake looks remarkably like the branches it calls home.
The lizards have some amazing coloration.
The chameleons have amazing gripping power, visible through the glass.
The displays look like a nice home for these well-matched species.
Visitors can get up close and personal.
The coloring of this tiny frog warn against considering it a meal.
The exhibited critters were very small to fairly large.
This doris longwing butterfly found a favorite flower.
These postman butterflies were lovely to watch.
The coloring of the postman butterfly closely matches a favorite flower.
Some butterflies in action.
This turtle was exploring the floor of its display.
This snake perfectly matched its environment.
The new display tanks are spectacular. This is the world's deepest living coral reef tank.
It was fun watching the jelly fish navigate their space.
This frog seemed to be quite at home.
The flowers were beautiful at the top of the rainforest.
From the top of the rainforest, an elevator takes visitors to the aquarium at the lowest level. Here a shrimp does some dental hygiene on a moray eel.
The leafy seadragon was amazing to see.
The weedy seadragon was equally interesting to wartch.
The giant owl attempts to confuse attackers with its decoration.
The blue morpho seemed to be selective of the plants where it rested.
These little red frogs liked their favorite plant as a home.
Brightly colored frogs warn predators to leave them alone with their color.
The blue-gray tanager was a pretty bird.
The helcale longwing butterfly found a large leaf as a resting place.
You can see the viewing ramps in the rainforest.
The macaws in the rainforest.
A cute little orange frog.
A colorful chameleon.