Oakland Zoo reopens
Feb. 8, 2023
After being closed for more than a month, the Oakland zoo is welcoming visitors again. And it’s a bargain for Oakland
residents.
A rainstorm that hit the Bay Area on New Year’s Eve forced closure when an underground drainage system overflowed, creating a sinkhole near the park’s entrance. Autos were not able to drive into the park.
Along with the pipe break, the storm knocked down trees and created a muddy mess that zoo staff cleaned up.
But things are looking up. Oakland residents will now get a 25 percent discount when visiting the zoo thanks to passage of a special tax last November.
Voters approved Measure Y, which raises more than $12 million annually for zoo operations via a $68 annual fee on all registered city parcels.
Zoo officials, including Chief Executive Officer Nik Dehjia, said the funds will be used partly to admit low income residents free of charge and offer discounts for all other Oaklanders
The extra funds are a welcome relief for the zoo, which was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and lost attendance revenue during the 35-day closure.
Also, the popular nighttime lantern festival, Zoofari, has been extended through March 4. For more information visit:
.oaklandzoo.org
residents.
A rainstorm that hit the Bay Area on New Year’s Eve forced closure when an underground drainage system overflowed, creating a sinkhole near the park’s entrance. Autos were not able to drive into the park.
Along with the pipe break, the storm knocked down trees and created a muddy mess that zoo staff cleaned up.
But things are looking up. Oakland residents will now get a 25 percent discount when visiting the zoo thanks to passage of a special tax last November.
Voters approved Measure Y, which raises more than $12 million annually for zoo operations via a $68 annual fee on all registered city parcels.
Zoo officials, including Chief Executive Officer Nik Dehjia, said the funds will be used partly to admit low income residents free of charge and offer discounts for all other Oaklanders
The extra funds are a welcome relief for the zoo, which was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and lost attendance revenue during the 35-day closure.
Also, the popular nighttime lantern festival, Zoofari, has been extended through March 4. For more information visit:
.oaklandzoo.org
Cycle of life and death portrayed in photo exhibit
"Sea Lion Fall" by David Slater won first place in the Aquatic Life category in the "Big Picture: Natural World Photography" competition sponsored by the California Academy of Sciences.
Oct. 5, 2022
David Slater was scuba diving off Monterey when he saw something underwater that caught his attention.
“I was out diving one day and I saw this sea lion in the distance and went to inspect it,” he said.
“It had a few bat stars on it and had just died. I spent two weeks just diving it, coming back every couple days watching as more scavengers came on it and fed. It was the last time I saw her (sea lion) before she just disappeared.”
That startling image impressed a blue ribbon panel of judges who awarded Slater top honors in the annual “Big Picture: Natural World Photography” competition at the California Academy of Sciences.
Now in its eighth year, the competition attracts thousands of entries from amateur and professional photographers around the world. Awards are given in a variety of categories that document the natural world.
The competition also illustrates the diversity of nature and the challenges to species survival created by human contact.
Contestants from 65 nations submitted more than seven thousand photos this year. The judging panel, headed by wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas, had the difficult job of sorting out 49 of the best shots for awards and top recognition as finalists.
Slater’s photo, titled “sea lion fall,” won first place in the Aquatic Life category. The overall grand prize went to “Bee Balling” by Karine Aigner of Texas. The judges were impressed that she was able to capture the moment when a group of mating crazed male bees knot themselves into a large ball.
Slater is an experienced diver who spends time underwater as a release from his night job as an emergency room technician at Monterey Community Hospital.
When marine mammals die, their corpses become a source of nourishment for a variety of underwater scavengers. The bodies of deceased whales are so packed with meat that they can feed numerous deep-sea dwellers for up to a year.
Looking at the photo, viewers are struck by the bright colors of the bat stars attached to the body. In the background, several sea lions swim about as if nothing has happened.
Good art can bring out a variety of emotions. Slater acknowledges the grim nature of the photo, but also the sense of the animal’s death being a part of the eternal cycle of life.
“It’s kind of a very unique experience for me” he said. “It’s sad but it’s a very precious moment that I got to be a part of.”
Wildlife photographers go to great lengths to get just the right shot. Their work often involves hiking up mountains to photograph a snow leopard or waiting outside a hyena den for days to capture that moment when the female and her pups first emerge. Slater returned to the same spot daily for two weeks to get the shot just right.
Aiger discovered the bees on her ranch and had to stand on a stool between numerous ground burrows to capture the mating scrum. Cactus bees pollinate plants but are often eclipsed by European honeybees. It was a unique experience and Aiger hopes the photo will inform the public about this largely unknown insect.
“It was a real privilege to witness this stuff that I never knew existed,” she said.
Big Picture photos are displayed in the academy’s piazza and can be viewed online at bigpicturecompetition.org/2022-winners.
David Slater was scuba diving off Monterey when he saw something underwater that caught his attention.
“I was out diving one day and I saw this sea lion in the distance and went to inspect it,” he said.
“It had a few bat stars on it and had just died. I spent two weeks just diving it, coming back every couple days watching as more scavengers came on it and fed. It was the last time I saw her (sea lion) before she just disappeared.”
That startling image impressed a blue ribbon panel of judges who awarded Slater top honors in the annual “Big Picture: Natural World Photography” competition at the California Academy of Sciences.
Now in its eighth year, the competition attracts thousands of entries from amateur and professional photographers around the world. Awards are given in a variety of categories that document the natural world.
The competition also illustrates the diversity of nature and the challenges to species survival created by human contact.
Contestants from 65 nations submitted more than seven thousand photos this year. The judging panel, headed by wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas, had the difficult job of sorting out 49 of the best shots for awards and top recognition as finalists.
Slater’s photo, titled “sea lion fall,” won first place in the Aquatic Life category. The overall grand prize went to “Bee Balling” by Karine Aigner of Texas. The judges were impressed that she was able to capture the moment when a group of mating crazed male bees knot themselves into a large ball.
Slater is an experienced diver who spends time underwater as a release from his night job as an emergency room technician at Monterey Community Hospital.
When marine mammals die, their corpses become a source of nourishment for a variety of underwater scavengers. The bodies of deceased whales are so packed with meat that they can feed numerous deep-sea dwellers for up to a year.
Looking at the photo, viewers are struck by the bright colors of the bat stars attached to the body. In the background, several sea lions swim about as if nothing has happened.
Good art can bring out a variety of emotions. Slater acknowledges the grim nature of the photo, but also the sense of the animal’s death being a part of the eternal cycle of life.
“It’s kind of a very unique experience for me” he said. “It’s sad but it’s a very precious moment that I got to be a part of.”
Wildlife photographers go to great lengths to get just the right shot. Their work often involves hiking up mountains to photograph a snow leopard or waiting outside a hyena den for days to capture that moment when the female and her pups first emerge. Slater returned to the same spot daily for two weeks to get the shot just right.
Aiger discovered the bees on her ranch and had to stand on a stool between numerous ground burrows to capture the mating scrum. Cactus bees pollinate plants but are often eclipsed by European honeybees. It was a unique experience and Aiger hopes the photo will inform the public about this largely unknown insect.
“It was a real privilege to witness this stuff that I never knew existed,” she said.
Big Picture photos are displayed in the academy’s piazza and can be viewed online at bigpicturecompetition.org/2022-winners.
"Bee Ball" by Karine Aiger (below) took the Grand Prize in the annual "Big Picture:Natural World Photography competition.
These wonders are no longer hidden
Below the main floor of the California Academy of Sciences lies a treasure trove of scientific value.
Floor to ceiling multi-drawer metal cabinets and other containers hold a wealth of biological specimens-an estimated 46 million in all-collected by scientists or donated for more than a century.
Most have never been seen by the general public. Until now.
Academy officials have opened “Hidden Wonders: Inside the Academy’s Collections,” a new exhibit which displays some of the most interesting preserved animals, plants and fossils in the museum’s vast holdings.
The objects themselves are eye catching, but the way they are used to solve scientific mysteries is a story worth telling. And “Hidden Wonders’’ does it well.
Established in 1853, the academy became a scientific institution known for sponsoring expeditions including trips to the Galapagos Islands at the turn of the century.
Unfortunately, most of the early collections were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, but soon after, researchers resumed their work and the collection began to grow again.
Academy scientists are always willing to share their discoveries with the public, but most specimens couldn’t be shown in the building’s general exhibit areas without being damaged by bright lights or humidity.
“The research collections we need to preserve for perpetuity which means that we tend to keep them in dark locked cabinets,” said academy Dean of Science and Collections Shannon Bennett.
“We would love to have the public see them but because of the conditions on the public floor that has not always been tenable.”
Bennett spoke in the new climate-controlled gallery which she refers to as a “black box.” The room was a former laboratory visible to the public via glass walls. It’s cold inside because lower temperatures are necessary to remove damaging moisture from the air. The room’s lights are set to prevent the specimens from fading.
It’s an impressive display of 800 separate items. The skeleton of a snarling prehistoric sabretooth cat-ironically named a “Smilodon”-is perched in one section of the room. A Galapagos Tortoise and other specimens from century-old expeditions are visible, along with birds preserved through the art of taxidermy.
The collection also includes avian paintings by the renowned 19th century artist John James Audubon. More previously unseen specimens will highlight the gallery in years to come, according to Bennett.
“These 800 specimens are just the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “We have 46 million or more specimens in our collection in this building and ultimately we will be turning this gallery over and bringing more of them to light.”
But the specimens have a greater value than just being display objects. Using modern DNA techniques, scientists can extract valuable data on changes in climate, species evolution and diseases when taking samples under supervised conditions.
“We can now get genetic information from specimens that are hundreds of years old, Bennett said, “It’s tiny and fragmented but it’s amazing.”
Using samples from a collection of Galapagos Finches, researchers were able to determine that the birds died from a disease introduced by a parrot not native to the island.
“A piratical parrot that sat on someone’s shoulder when they visited that island,” Bennett said. “We would never know that is what happened if we did not have our collections.”
“Hidden Treasures” Exhibit Design Manager Julia Louie stressed that the display helps visitors understand what goes on behind the scenes with this library of biological items.
“It’s not just an assorted display of cool stuff, “she said. “We are really using these collections to show their value as scientific tools and how scientists are doing cutting-edge research using these tools.”
story and photos by Dave Boitano
Floor to ceiling multi-drawer metal cabinets and other containers hold a wealth of biological specimens-an estimated 46 million in all-collected by scientists or donated for more than a century.
Most have never been seen by the general public. Until now.
Academy officials have opened “Hidden Wonders: Inside the Academy’s Collections,” a new exhibit which displays some of the most interesting preserved animals, plants and fossils in the museum’s vast holdings.
The objects themselves are eye catching, but the way they are used to solve scientific mysteries is a story worth telling. And “Hidden Wonders’’ does it well.
Established in 1853, the academy became a scientific institution known for sponsoring expeditions including trips to the Galapagos Islands at the turn of the century.
Unfortunately, most of the early collections were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, but soon after, researchers resumed their work and the collection began to grow again.
Academy scientists are always willing to share their discoveries with the public, but most specimens couldn’t be shown in the building’s general exhibit areas without being damaged by bright lights or humidity.
“The research collections we need to preserve for perpetuity which means that we tend to keep them in dark locked cabinets,” said academy Dean of Science and Collections Shannon Bennett.
“We would love to have the public see them but because of the conditions on the public floor that has not always been tenable.”
Bennett spoke in the new climate-controlled gallery which she refers to as a “black box.” The room was a former laboratory visible to the public via glass walls. It’s cold inside because lower temperatures are necessary to remove damaging moisture from the air. The room’s lights are set to prevent the specimens from fading.
It’s an impressive display of 800 separate items. The skeleton of a snarling prehistoric sabretooth cat-ironically named a “Smilodon”-is perched in one section of the room. A Galapagos Tortoise and other specimens from century-old expeditions are visible, along with birds preserved through the art of taxidermy.
The collection also includes avian paintings by the renowned 19th century artist John James Audubon. More previously unseen specimens will highlight the gallery in years to come, according to Bennett.
“These 800 specimens are just the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “We have 46 million or more specimens in our collection in this building and ultimately we will be turning this gallery over and bringing more of them to light.”
But the specimens have a greater value than just being display objects. Using modern DNA techniques, scientists can extract valuable data on changes in climate, species evolution and diseases when taking samples under supervised conditions.
“We can now get genetic information from specimens that are hundreds of years old, Bennett said, “It’s tiny and fragmented but it’s amazing.”
Using samples from a collection of Galapagos Finches, researchers were able to determine that the birds died from a disease introduced by a parrot not native to the island.
“A piratical parrot that sat on someone’s shoulder when they visited that island,” Bennett said. “We would never know that is what happened if we did not have our collections.”
“Hidden Treasures” Exhibit Design Manager Julia Louie stressed that the display helps visitors understand what goes on behind the scenes with this library of biological items.
“It’s not just an assorted display of cool stuff, “she said. “We are really using these collections to show their value as scientific tools and how scientists are doing cutting-edge research using these tools.”
story and photos by Dave Boitano
Enter the fascinating world of insects in a surreal exhibit :"Bugs" See Biosphere
Zoo exhibit shines light on illegal wildlife trade
Oakland Zoo CEO Nik Dehejia views a display of wildlife trinkets Dave Boitano/photo
It is the blackest of black markets.
Each year, thousands of wild animals are killed or taken from nature as part of the illegal wildlife trade, a multibillion dollar global business that is pushing many species to the brink of extinction.
It’s a trade that the leaders of the Oakland Zoo hope to stop by educating the public.
Banners hung throughout the zoo grounds point out the statistics of how many animals are sacrificed each year, and a hut in the African Savannah area displays related items confiscated by authorities.
“We wanted to create a center here at the zoo as part of a broader campaign,” said Oakland Zoo Chief Executive Officer Nik Dehejia,” This is just a piece of the larger campaign to help people understand what is happening with the wildlife trade.”
Many animals are poached from African wildlife sanctuaries, and slaughtered for their meat and body parts which are used in folk medicines, or as curios to be sold to tourists. Live animals, including everything from exotic parrots to scorpions, are caught and smuggled into this country to be kept as pets.
Smugglers are often connected to international organized crime gangs which employ impoverished locals to capture the animals and prepare them for shipment. To get past authorities, violators stuff animals into small containers or employ other devices which can prove fatal to their live contraband.
Other species die because they cannot adapt to a new environment. From 2015-2019 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service confiscated 48,000 live animals of which only 20 percent survived, Dehejia said in an exhibit video.
Certain species have been especially hard hit. During the last 100 years, lion populations have declined by 90 percent and tigers have dropped by 96 percent, according to the big cat advocacy group Panthera.
More than 20,000 elephants were poached and killed in game reserves in 2013 and a report predicts that “poaching levels remain alarmingly high and continue to exceed the natural elephant population growth rates, resulting in a further decline in elephant populations in Africa.”
The display includes a variety of wildlife trinkets, including a carved ivory elephant horn, a reptile skin purse and a pair of shark jaws. Even collecting seashells can be harmful if they are from an endangered species.
Tourists should think about what they buy, and determine if a souvenir being sold could cause the decline of a local species, Dehejia said.
“When you go to markets around the world and you think are supporting a community, you may be supporting illegal activities,” he said. “It may seem like something fun but at the end of the day, it may have a link to something disastrous.”
It’s no coincidence that the zoo has created this exhibit during the coronavirus pandemic. While the exact source of the infection has not been determined, suspicion has centered on a so-called “wet market” in Wuhan. China where wild animals were legally sold as meat. Rumors that the virus escaped from a laboratory in the city were discounted and market has since been closed down by authorities.
Coronaviruses are found in bats which can spread the disease to humans through another animal host. In a report to the United Nations, researchers warn that destruction of forest habitats may set the stage for more international disease.
“There are now a whole raft of activities – illegal logging, clearing and mining – with associated international trades in bush meat and exotic pets that have created this crisis,” said Stuart Pimm, professor of conservation at Duke University.
“In the case of Covid-19, it has cost the world trillions of dollars and already killed almost a million people, so clearly urgent action is needed.”
The campaign against the wildlife trade is part of the larger issue of humans interacting with the natural world, which is “pushing wildlife to the edges,” Dehejia said. It is not intended to lay blame on any nation but to define a global problem.
“This is a broader story of our challenging relationship with nature... We have to recalibrate our relationship with nature,” he said. “The pandemic has helped us all understand that this is a human problem.”
The campaign is the latest in the Oakland Zoo’s ongoing protection and advocacy efforts for wild animals. Staff in the veterinary clinic regularly treat victims of the illegal trade and try to determine where they will go after they recover.
At least half of the zoo’s animals were rescues including a pair of Australian wallabies that had been kept illegally. They will be part of a new Australian wildlife exhibit. Dehejia and others were instrumental in banning the bull hook, a painful device used by circus staff to subdue elephants.
Along with the exhibit, the campaign will include other activities throughout the year and zoo patrons can get on board now by signing a pledge on the zoo’s website.
“Each individual has a role to play, Dehejia said. “We can all do something.”
Each year, thousands of wild animals are killed or taken from nature as part of the illegal wildlife trade, a multibillion dollar global business that is pushing many species to the brink of extinction.
It’s a trade that the leaders of the Oakland Zoo hope to stop by educating the public.
Banners hung throughout the zoo grounds point out the statistics of how many animals are sacrificed each year, and a hut in the African Savannah area displays related items confiscated by authorities.
“We wanted to create a center here at the zoo as part of a broader campaign,” said Oakland Zoo Chief Executive Officer Nik Dehejia,” This is just a piece of the larger campaign to help people understand what is happening with the wildlife trade.”
Many animals are poached from African wildlife sanctuaries, and slaughtered for their meat and body parts which are used in folk medicines, or as curios to be sold to tourists. Live animals, including everything from exotic parrots to scorpions, are caught and smuggled into this country to be kept as pets.
Smugglers are often connected to international organized crime gangs which employ impoverished locals to capture the animals and prepare them for shipment. To get past authorities, violators stuff animals into small containers or employ other devices which can prove fatal to their live contraband.
Other species die because they cannot adapt to a new environment. From 2015-2019 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service confiscated 48,000 live animals of which only 20 percent survived, Dehejia said in an exhibit video.
Certain species have been especially hard hit. During the last 100 years, lion populations have declined by 90 percent and tigers have dropped by 96 percent, according to the big cat advocacy group Panthera.
More than 20,000 elephants were poached and killed in game reserves in 2013 and a report predicts that “poaching levels remain alarmingly high and continue to exceed the natural elephant population growth rates, resulting in a further decline in elephant populations in Africa.”
The display includes a variety of wildlife trinkets, including a carved ivory elephant horn, a reptile skin purse and a pair of shark jaws. Even collecting seashells can be harmful if they are from an endangered species.
Tourists should think about what they buy, and determine if a souvenir being sold could cause the decline of a local species, Dehejia said.
“When you go to markets around the world and you think are supporting a community, you may be supporting illegal activities,” he said. “It may seem like something fun but at the end of the day, it may have a link to something disastrous.”
It’s no coincidence that the zoo has created this exhibit during the coronavirus pandemic. While the exact source of the infection has not been determined, suspicion has centered on a so-called “wet market” in Wuhan. China where wild animals were legally sold as meat. Rumors that the virus escaped from a laboratory in the city were discounted and market has since been closed down by authorities.
Coronaviruses are found in bats which can spread the disease to humans through another animal host. In a report to the United Nations, researchers warn that destruction of forest habitats may set the stage for more international disease.
“There are now a whole raft of activities – illegal logging, clearing and mining – with associated international trades in bush meat and exotic pets that have created this crisis,” said Stuart Pimm, professor of conservation at Duke University.
“In the case of Covid-19, it has cost the world trillions of dollars and already killed almost a million people, so clearly urgent action is needed.”
The campaign against the wildlife trade is part of the larger issue of humans interacting with the natural world, which is “pushing wildlife to the edges,” Dehejia said. It is not intended to lay blame on any nation but to define a global problem.
“This is a broader story of our challenging relationship with nature... We have to recalibrate our relationship with nature,” he said. “The pandemic has helped us all understand that this is a human problem.”
The campaign is the latest in the Oakland Zoo’s ongoing protection and advocacy efforts for wild animals. Staff in the veterinary clinic regularly treat victims of the illegal trade and try to determine where they will go after they recover.
At least half of the zoo’s animals were rescues including a pair of Australian wallabies that had been kept illegally. They will be part of a new Australian wildlife exhibit. Dehejia and others were instrumental in banning the bull hook, a painful device used by circus staff to subdue elephants.
Along with the exhibit, the campaign will include other activities throughout the year and zoo patrons can get on board now by signing a pledge on the zoo’s website.
“Each individual has a role to play, Dehejia said. “We can all do something.”
Viewing wildlife from your home
It's not always possible to visit every aquarium, zoo, or science museum in the nation, but there are still plenty of ways to gain knowledge and experience the beauty of the animal world.
Most institutions have webcams that stream live images of everything from aquarium fish to elephants in real time. Others have assembled pre-recorded segments of lectures or highlights of streamed images for those who are too impatient to wait for the animals to appear.
Here is a sampling of the best online science programs and websites.
Explore.org
Is a nonprofit that links to dozens of live stream views of both wild animals and pets. Viewers can chose to watch birds, sharks, bears or rescued cats snoozing in their cat beds. Now is the best time to watch walruses chilling on a beach in Round Island Alaska.
Wild Earth—Safari Live
All the excitement of being on a real safari without the expense and 16-hour plane ride to get there. Guides drive jeeps along African game trails in search of lions, hyenas and leopards. The camera is situated in the back of the vehicle giving the viewer the feeling of being there. The drivers are very knowledgeable and online participants ask them questions via instant messaging.
Because it’s Africa, the time in reversed with the trips starting during nighttime hours here in the U.S. To watch, viewers must register free. Broadcasts and videos of past trips can be seen without commercials by joining the group's Explorers for a small monthly fee. You can also view by downloading the channel's apps on the AppStore and GooglePlay.
Aquariums
Georgia Aquarium
Is the nation’s largest and is so big it can house giant whale sharks and beluga whales. Check out the wonderful white belugas as they glide past the camera. Another winner is Sharks ! Predators of the Deep where hammerheads swim about.
Aquarium of the Pacific
A small facility located in Long Beach, California. But it boasts some of the best live view opportunities, including a colorful shark lagoon tank and tropical reef tank.
Shedd Aquarium
Located on Lake Michigan in Chicago, Shedd contains one of the largest collection of fresh and salt water aquatic life in the nation. The exhibit, “underwater beauty,” is designed to showcase how fish adapt to their environment and displays their colorful beauty. The live cam lives up to that billing and it not to missed.
Monterey Bay Aquarium
It’s by far the biggest tourist attraction in Monterey, California. The aquarium houses creatures native to Monterey Bay, a complex marine ecosystem thousands of feet deep that nourishes migrating whales, sea otters and sharks. Best viewing here is the open sea exhibit that includes exotic sunfish and the jelly live cam where jellyfish undulate to new age background music.
Zoos
San Diego Zoo
No visit to San Diego is complete without a trip to the city’s zoo. Hundreds of animals inhabit the zoo and Safari Park, which is located 35 miles away in Escondido. There’s a variety of webcams to choose from. Among the best are the giraffe cam (where rhinos regularly hang out) the polar bear cam and the burrowing owls.
Bronx Zoo
Is New York’s finest and is part of a system that also includes the New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and Prospect Park Zoo. Be sure to check out webcams of the zoo’s Spiny Forest and caged lemurs.
Museums
California Academy of Sciences
Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the academy features an indoor rainforest, digital planetarium, natural history museum and aquarium. Live webcams show penguins in their indoor enclosure, a reef lagoon and the Philippine Coral Reef Cam
In a series of “breakfast club” videos shown on YouTube, scientists talk about their areas of study. Of special interest is virologist Shannon Bennett talking about parasites and Morrison Planetarium Director Ryan Wyatt taking viewers on a trip through outer space.
Birds
Peregrine Falcons
A pair of peregrine falcons are nesting atop the UC Berkeley Campanile, a 200- foot bell tower and fossil repository on the college campus. The birds have become celebrities since a webcam was installed and viewers can now see the falcons and their three newly hatched chicks..
City of Deerfield Beach, Fla.
Has installed an underwater web cam off a pier Schools of tropical fish jam the camera throughout the daylight hours. The camera's microphone adds an underwater sound that will make you feel like you are diving with the locals.
This is only a partial list of resources. If you have a favorite webcam or video, contact me through: editor@scienceinview.com and I will add it to the list.
__Dave Boitano
Take a walk with giants
The ecosystems that comprise the San Francisco Bay Area’s natural environment are the focus of a new exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences.
Redwood trees, whales and earthquakes may not seem connected but after seeing “Giants of Land and Sea,” visitors will understand the natural forces that work in harmony to sustain these fixtures of local life. The exhibit opened Friday, June 15 at the academy, located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
“This is really about connected systems that are on the Northern California coast that make this place we live in so unique,” said Scott Moran, the academy’s director of exhibits.
The exhibit occupies the space previously used for “The Color of Life,” the academy’s last big in-house produced show. For the first time, display captions are written in four languages, English, Spanish, Chinese and Filipino.
To bring the coastal nature story to life, designers drew upon much of the academy’s existing resources, including an extensive collection of marine mammal skeletons and an earthquake simulation chamber that was part of a separate earthquake exhibit.
Towering over the display area is a 50 foot skeleton of a blue whale that was brought to the academy in 1908. It has been hanging there since the building was reopened after a complete redesign in 2008. Prior to that the whale was displayed in a huge shed outside the main building.
The deceased cetacean is an integral element of the show and inspired the approach designers would take in creating the exhibit.
“We wanted to do an exhibit on California,” Moran said. “It’s in our name but the challenge was California is huge.”
“We had a blue whale overhead so we decided why not focus it towards the coastline and we can make sure to bring in the blue whale. It’s such a beautiful specimen.”
Skeletons of marine mammals including the jaws of whales and fully-articulated seals and sea lions are on display. Look at a nearby wall and you will see hundreds of California Sea Lion skulls from the collection of the late Raymond “Bones” Bandar, an academy volunteer who collected more than 6,000 animal skulls during more than 60 years of scouring beaches for remains.
He amassed the greatest collection of California Sea lion skulls and now 28 academy volunteers are moving his remaining specimens to the academy from his San Francisco home, said Maureen “Mo” Flannery, collections manager for birds and mammals.
The large elephant seal skeleton rearing up within the display is most likely the only specimen of its kind on display anywhere, Flannery said.
So why not simply display plastic models of the animals like other museums and aquariums? Flannery was asked.
Showing the genuine article, even in skeletal form, is part of the academy’s commitment as a research institution she said.
“We wanted people to see the interior workings and skeletons are beautiful,” she added. “The outside of the animal is beautiful but the skeleton shows you a whole different side.”
Fog, that atmospheric staple of San Francisco during the summer, also has a role in the “Giants” story. Designers have created a fog chamber where a thick mist descends upon visitors within moments after entering.
Is hard to see the hand in front of your face for a few seconds, and Moran said the effect is created by vibrating ultrasonic devices interacting with water in the chamber.
Fog provides a vital water source for California’s towering redwood trees which are well represented in the display.
An 8,500 pound cross section of a giant redwood that began growing around the year 1200, shows visitors just how big these trees can get. The tree was toppled during a 2011 storm. And the sample came from redwood’s higher branches, according to Moran.
“If we tried to show the base of the tree it wouldn’t even fit in the building,” he said.
Exhibit designers obtained the tree with the help of the Save the Redwoods League, a conservation organization that protects old-growth redwoods. Preserving the trees is important because of the two million acres of original redwood forest only 5 percent is left, said the organization’s Rosemary Cameron.
“We are trying to get millions of people out into the redwoods so that they can experience the peace and grandeur and gain a keen understanding of why their preservation is so important.”
Along with the tree section, the exhibit features an ultra-high definition video of researchers climbing the trunk of a huge redwood. The video was shot in a forest in Del Norte County using photographic drones and provides a stunning image of how small we humans are compared with nature’s giants.
Redwood trees, whales and earthquakes may not seem connected but after seeing “Giants of Land and Sea,” visitors will understand the natural forces that work in harmony to sustain these fixtures of local life. The exhibit opened Friday, June 15 at the academy, located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
“This is really about connected systems that are on the Northern California coast that make this place we live in so unique,” said Scott Moran, the academy’s director of exhibits.
The exhibit occupies the space previously used for “The Color of Life,” the academy’s last big in-house produced show. For the first time, display captions are written in four languages, English, Spanish, Chinese and Filipino.
To bring the coastal nature story to life, designers drew upon much of the academy’s existing resources, including an extensive collection of marine mammal skeletons and an earthquake simulation chamber that was part of a separate earthquake exhibit.
Towering over the display area is a 50 foot skeleton of a blue whale that was brought to the academy in 1908. It has been hanging there since the building was reopened after a complete redesign in 2008. Prior to that the whale was displayed in a huge shed outside the main building.
The deceased cetacean is an integral element of the show and inspired the approach designers would take in creating the exhibit.
“We wanted to do an exhibit on California,” Moran said. “It’s in our name but the challenge was California is huge.”
“We had a blue whale overhead so we decided why not focus it towards the coastline and we can make sure to bring in the blue whale. It’s such a beautiful specimen.”
Skeletons of marine mammals including the jaws of whales and fully-articulated seals and sea lions are on display. Look at a nearby wall and you will see hundreds of California Sea Lion skulls from the collection of the late Raymond “Bones” Bandar, an academy volunteer who collected more than 6,000 animal skulls during more than 60 years of scouring beaches for remains.
He amassed the greatest collection of California Sea lion skulls and now 28 academy volunteers are moving his remaining specimens to the academy from his San Francisco home, said Maureen “Mo” Flannery, collections manager for birds and mammals.
The large elephant seal skeleton rearing up within the display is most likely the only specimen of its kind on display anywhere, Flannery said.
So why not simply display plastic models of the animals like other museums and aquariums? Flannery was asked.
Showing the genuine article, even in skeletal form, is part of the academy’s commitment as a research institution she said.
“We wanted people to see the interior workings and skeletons are beautiful,” she added. “The outside of the animal is beautiful but the skeleton shows you a whole different side.”
Fog, that atmospheric staple of San Francisco during the summer, also has a role in the “Giants” story. Designers have created a fog chamber where a thick mist descends upon visitors within moments after entering.
Is hard to see the hand in front of your face for a few seconds, and Moran said the effect is created by vibrating ultrasonic devices interacting with water in the chamber.
Fog provides a vital water source for California’s towering redwood trees which are well represented in the display.
An 8,500 pound cross section of a giant redwood that began growing around the year 1200, shows visitors just how big these trees can get. The tree was toppled during a 2011 storm. And the sample came from redwood’s higher branches, according to Moran.
“If we tried to show the base of the tree it wouldn’t even fit in the building,” he said.
Exhibit designers obtained the tree with the help of the Save the Redwoods League, a conservation organization that protects old-growth redwoods. Preserving the trees is important because of the two million acres of original redwood forest only 5 percent is left, said the organization’s Rosemary Cameron.
“We are trying to get millions of people out into the redwoods so that they can experience the peace and grandeur and gain a keen understanding of why their preservation is so important.”
Along with the tree section, the exhibit features an ultra-high definition video of researchers climbing the trunk of a huge redwood. The video was shot in a forest in Del Norte County using photographic drones and provides a stunning image of how small we humans are compared with nature’s giants.
Video courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences
"Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed" is more than just an exhibit
Photo courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is known for colorful and engaging displays but the latest exhibit is more than just a collection of sea creatures and bright computer graphics. It’s more like a story told to visitors as they walk through the darkened exhibit space at the academy’s Steinhart Aquarium.
“Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed,” now on display is sure to keep its audiences fascinated learning about an oceanic frontier more mysterious and unexplored than the surface of the Moon.
Like any good story, the exhibit has engaging characters who journey where no one has gone before and return to tell the tale. They are divers Luiz Rocha and Bart Shepherd, who admit that they work well together 500 feet below the surface and on dry land.
Rocha, an academy ichthyologist and Shepherd, director of Steinhart, dove into the shadowy depths in the Philippines the last two years collecting fish and corals for this display. A full size mockup of a diver in full gear is testimony to the difficulty of working at such a depth.
An elaborate black scuba outfit with multiple helium-filled tanks, depth gauges and a rebreather system confirms that this equipment is not for casual dives. It also confirms that Rocha and Shepherd are more like underwater astronauts than just scientists catching fish.
And like astronauts, the men are two of only a handful of humans who have ever ventured into these deep Mesozoic reefs. “We are part of a select group of people who have ever set eyes on these things,” Shepherd said, “They are very sensitive to light and few people will have the opportunity to see them.”
Nearby, fish and invertebrates move about in dimly lit tanks which cast a blue hue evocative of their natural environment. Shepherd pointed out a colorful comb jelly which undulated as if floating through the air. Dubbed “sea peeps” for their resemblance to Easter candy, the creatures are the first to be displayed in any aquarium outside of Japan.
Shepherd lightheartedly took issue the way the Japanese biologists obtained their jellies. “They collected them with a submarine which is cheating,” he said, “We collected ours by hand.”
Diving at 400 feet requires extensive training and certifications which most scientists are unwilling to do, Rocha said. That has allowed the dive team to collect dozens of unknown fish and coral species. While adding two similar fish collected at different times into a single tank, he noticed that the second fish had different coloring than the first; evidence of a new species.
“This is how much we don’t know about these deep reefs,” he said. “You could go there blindfold your eyes, collect things randomly and half of what you collect will be a new species.”
A long plastic cylinder in a nearby display is testament to the care the divers take in bringing live animals to the surface. Deep diving fish, which stay afloat by means of a swim bladder, will die from changes in water pressure as their bladder expands at shallower depths. Normally scientists offset the pressure by puncturing the animal’s bladder with a hypodermic needle underwater forcing bubbles out.
“Being an aquarium person since I was six years old, I don’t like poking holes in fish,” Shepherd said. The cylinder is a decompression chamber that holds the fish in two gallons of water. It is sealed at 200 feet and brought to the surface where academy staffers slowly release the pressure over several days until the fish are completely decompressed.
The exhibit is the first alteration of the aquarium since the academy building reopened in 2008. The decoration and lighting give the area a distinct atmospheric feeling unlike Steinhart’s other displays. Along with the hard science, visitors can recreate bioluminescence by waving their hands over a light display and a video game in which the player swims through the water collecting fish adds an element of fun.
But one question remains. How can the divers remain calm knowing that they are several hundred feet below the surface in such an alien environment?
Shepherd has logged more than 270 hours in the deep sea. A good dive team and experienced dive safety officer help build confidence, he says but it was not always that way.
“When I first started I had a lot of anxiety as you look over the ledge and start to make your descent. And I definitely felt that in the first deep dives but with proficiency it’s like anything else you put in the hours and you are comfortable. “
Now that’s a story.
“Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed,” now on display is sure to keep its audiences fascinated learning about an oceanic frontier more mysterious and unexplored than the surface of the Moon.
Like any good story, the exhibit has engaging characters who journey where no one has gone before and return to tell the tale. They are divers Luiz Rocha and Bart Shepherd, who admit that they work well together 500 feet below the surface and on dry land.
Rocha, an academy ichthyologist and Shepherd, director of Steinhart, dove into the shadowy depths in the Philippines the last two years collecting fish and corals for this display. A full size mockup of a diver in full gear is testimony to the difficulty of working at such a depth.
An elaborate black scuba outfit with multiple helium-filled tanks, depth gauges and a rebreather system confirms that this equipment is not for casual dives. It also confirms that Rocha and Shepherd are more like underwater astronauts than just scientists catching fish.
And like astronauts, the men are two of only a handful of humans who have ever ventured into these deep Mesozoic reefs. “We are part of a select group of people who have ever set eyes on these things,” Shepherd said, “They are very sensitive to light and few people will have the opportunity to see them.”
Nearby, fish and invertebrates move about in dimly lit tanks which cast a blue hue evocative of their natural environment. Shepherd pointed out a colorful comb jelly which undulated as if floating through the air. Dubbed “sea peeps” for their resemblance to Easter candy, the creatures are the first to be displayed in any aquarium outside of Japan.
Shepherd lightheartedly took issue the way the Japanese biologists obtained their jellies. “They collected them with a submarine which is cheating,” he said, “We collected ours by hand.”
Diving at 400 feet requires extensive training and certifications which most scientists are unwilling to do, Rocha said. That has allowed the dive team to collect dozens of unknown fish and coral species. While adding two similar fish collected at different times into a single tank, he noticed that the second fish had different coloring than the first; evidence of a new species.
“This is how much we don’t know about these deep reefs,” he said. “You could go there blindfold your eyes, collect things randomly and half of what you collect will be a new species.”
A long plastic cylinder in a nearby display is testament to the care the divers take in bringing live animals to the surface. Deep diving fish, which stay afloat by means of a swim bladder, will die from changes in water pressure as their bladder expands at shallower depths. Normally scientists offset the pressure by puncturing the animal’s bladder with a hypodermic needle underwater forcing bubbles out.
“Being an aquarium person since I was six years old, I don’t like poking holes in fish,” Shepherd said. The cylinder is a decompression chamber that holds the fish in two gallons of water. It is sealed at 200 feet and brought to the surface where academy staffers slowly release the pressure over several days until the fish are completely decompressed.
The exhibit is the first alteration of the aquarium since the academy building reopened in 2008. The decoration and lighting give the area a distinct atmospheric feeling unlike Steinhart’s other displays. Along with the hard science, visitors can recreate bioluminescence by waving their hands over a light display and a video game in which the player swims through the water collecting fish adds an element of fun.
But one question remains. How can the divers remain calm knowing that they are several hundred feet below the surface in such an alien environment?
Shepherd has logged more than 270 hours in the deep sea. A good dive team and experienced dive safety officer help build confidence, he says but it was not always that way.
“When I first started I had a lot of anxiety as you look over the ledge and start to make your descent. And I definitely felt that in the first deep dives but with proficiency it’s like anything else you put in the hours and you are comfortable. “
Now that’s a story.