Golden Gate Park – California Academy of Sciences

Its only a short walk from the Japanese Tea Garden, over the park to the California Academy of Sciences.

Tickets are available for $24.95 for adults, $19.95 for seniors and $14.95 for children.

The sales lady tells us that we will be unable to attend the planetarium as all the tickets have been sold out. But that’s okay by us as there are plenty of things to see.

Now the Academy has the Steinhart aquarium, a rain forest, a natural history museum and a planetarium and they are all under a living roof.

Its pretty amazing really and the first place we head to is the aquarium.  Not sure what it is about my lot but we are all fish mad. And it turns out there is more than one aquarium, each is set up to represent a particular eco area such as the Philippine coral reef, the Northern Californian coast, the Amazon basin, the swamp, the penguin enclosure and an assortment of smaller aquariums that hold the beautiful tiger fish, piranan and a myriad of other fish.

In fact this  aquarium has around 38,000 living creatures and more than 900 species. The first feature we come across is a representation of the Philippine  coral reef which holds 212,000 gallons of water and at 25 feet deep is actually one of the deepest exhibitions of live coral in the world and as you stroll past the diverse reef system you see a mix of hard and soft corals, sharks, stingrays and there are over 2000 of the most colorful, and strikingly beautiful reef fish as well as quite a few oddly exotic looking fish.

Next is the smaller aquarium of only 100,000-gallon that has been built to replicate the habitat Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

As you stroll along the walkway along you can smell the seawater and through the underwater window you can see  the inhabitants such as the eels, anemones, sea stars, rockfish, herring, sardines, and sea urchins that live beneath the water’s surface. In separate tanks are giant sea bass and Pacific octopus.

The kids and adults alike take delight in visiting the Discovery Tidepool where you can touch a wide variety of creatures. Plus there are a number of other tanks with interesting fish in them.  We spend quite some time checking out all the fish and finally we have to leave or we won’t get to see the rest of the exhibits.

Our next stop is the swamp where you can see an albino alligator and then it is on to the Rainforest dome. The rainforest goes up four floors  and is 90 feet in diameter. Once you enter at the bottom, the only way out is the elevator at the top. So up we go round and up a spiral path that leads us through the elements of an actual rainforest.

They keep the temperature at around 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit, and  there is a misting system to keep the humidity at around 75% or more. So its a bit steamy but not uncomfortable.

We meander up through the lush plant growth that is teeming with life and we look down on the flooded forest tank that has hundreds of species of fish swimming around, we can also see the crowd through the tank, taking photos and chatting excitedly with each other as they point out various types of fish.

The rain forests from Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica and the Amazon are all represented and as each is distinctive in its  own way, we are treated to a display of the plants from each rain forest habitat.  And along with the the beautiful flowering plants, the ferns, bromeliads, and orchids there is also the cacao plant that chocolate is made from. There is just so much to see and experience.  At the top of the walk are beautiful butterflies and birds along with displays of insects such as the giant cockroach.

To keep the eco system working there are a total of eighty skylights in the roof.

Once we reach the top we catch the elevator down to the Aquarium, if I were doing this again I would start with the rainforest and then go down to the aquarium.  As we have already seen the fish we head off in the direction of the natural museum where Val finds a cousin with which to have his photo taken. They chat for ages and I can’t help pointing out the family resemblence. Its really remarkable.

There are a number of African animals represented and at the end is the penguin enclosure where cheeky penguins duck and dive in the water.

I am keen to see the living roof so that is our next stop. The roof has over 1.7 million native plants that provide habitat and support to many creatures including birds and butterflies.

This building cost $50 million dollars to build and took 10 years and believe me it is worth every dollar and every minute. The building is spectacular with its glass panels that let you see out over the Golden Gate Park.

There is so much to see and do that you really need to take a full day or do a return visit to do it justice.

People of San Francisco you are so lucky to have this amazing place right at your back door.  Visitors don’t miss this  when you are in San Francisco.  We only scratched the surface and I didn’t want to leave. Next time I will be setting aside time to more thoroughly explore the California Academy of Sciences.

Photos of the Aquariums

This is the Giant Chinese Salamander. The female lays the eggs and the male fertilizes them and minds them. This is an endangered species. There is both a male and a female salamander in the photo. The thing that looks like a log is actually a salamander.

Now I didn’t get the name of this fish but it is a real oddity.

These fascinating creatures are upside down jellyfish. They have stinging tentacles but seldom need to sting food as they rely mainly on the algae it acts as host to.  The algae convert sunlight into food through photosynthesis and this keeps the jellyfish fed.

Sea Urchin. These were considered a delicacy when I was a kid in Auckland. I was introduced to them by the Samoan family across the road and they are really an acquired taste.  Oops probably shouldn’t be talking about eating the inhabitants.

This oddly shaped object is believe it or not – a fish.  I thought it was a plant when I first looked at it.

Anaconda – It has a tiny head in comparison to the rest of its body.

This is a frog. Its a flat frog.

Albino Alligator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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