Overview
Home to Steinhart Aquarium, Kimball Natural History Museum, Morrison Planetarium, and world-class research and education programs, the California Academy of Sciences is one of San Francisco's must-see destinations. From the splashing penguins in African Hall to the wildflowers on the roof, the building is bursting with life. A four-story living rainforest and awe-inspiring coral reef ecosystem will delight visitors of all ages, while immersive space shows will transport audiences beyond the boundaries of our planet. Opportunities abound to meet Academy scientists, share in their discoveries, and join the journey to make our world a greener, more sustainable place to live.
100 Word Description
Come nose-to-beak with penguins and parrots, watch sharks and sting rays cruise beneath your feet, and feel the spray of the California coast. Fly to Mars (and beyond the Milky Way!) from the safety of your planetarium seat, take a virtual safari in African Hall, or climb into the canopy of a living rainforest. Face your fears—and an albino alligator—inside the Swamp, and meet scientists as they return from research expeditions around the world. From the depths of a Philippine coral reef to the outer reaches of the Universe, it's all inside the California Academy of Sciences.
Address
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118
Phone: (415) 379-8000
Email: info@calacademy.org
Website: www.calacademy.org
Hours of Operation
Monday – Saturday: 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas
*On Thursday nights, the Academy is also open from 6-10pm for NightLife, a weekly event for visitors ages 21 and up, featuring music, bars, and cutting-edge science.
Admission
Adults: $29.95
Youth (ages 12-17): $24.95
Senior (ages 65 and over): $24.95
Child (ages 4-11): $19.95
Ages 3 and under: FREE
Discount for taking public transportation to the Academy: $3 per person
Note: Prices include access to all components of the Academy experience, including all museum exhibits, aquarium displays, planetarium shows, and the living rainforest. During peak periods, including some holiday weekends, an admission surcharge and extended hours may apply.
Restaurants
The California Academy of Sciences includes two culinary destinations run by renowned chef Charles Phan (chef and owner of The Slanted Door), featuring local, organic, sustainable food.
Major Exhibit Descriptions
All exhibits are ongoing and included with general admission, unless otherwise noted.
Limited Time! 'Tis the Season for Science – November 23, 2011 - January 16, 2012
The Academy is getting a winter makeover for the holidays! The popular ’Tis the Season for Science exhibit returns for a second year, bringing with it the sights, sounds, and smells of the season. Experience indoor snow flurries, get up close and personal with live reindeer, and immerse yourself in a snow-themed mini-dome show. In addition, daily programs and real scientific specimens will reveal how some of our most beloved holiday symbols and traditions are connected to the natural world. See where cinnamon comes from, learn little-known facts about mistletoe, and find out if partridges really live in pear trees. The science behind the food, plants, and animals we associate with the holidays may just surprise you! Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-5:00pm; Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
New! Animal Attraction – A new aquarium exhibit opening February 11, 2012
From fish that can change sex to insects that eat their mates, explore some of the wildest mating strategies in the animal kingdom in this revealing new exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences. Delve into the science of sex as you encounter live animals that have evolved remarkable and often surprising techniques for attracting mates and producing offspring. Meet snails that shoot "love darts" at one another, octopuses that are literally willing to lose an arm for the chance to mate, barnacles that win the award for most well-endowed, and more than a dozen other notable creatures. Museum specimens from around the world provide windows into additional mating and courtship practices, and interactive iPad labels offer slideshows and video footage of some of the most fascinating reproductive behaviors. You'll never think of the birds and the bees the same way again.
New! Earthquakes–A major new exhibit and planetarium show opening May 26, 2012
Prepare to be moved! In this upcoming exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences, delve into the science behind earthquakes and learn how societies prepare for and respond to these destructive phenomena. Experience a high-magnitude jolt in our earthquake simulator, fly over and into our dynamic planet in an immersive planetarium show, and explore the impacts of the largest disaster in San Francisco’s history—the 1906 earthquake and fire. Along the way, you’ll see how earthquakes fit into the larger story of plate tectonics, a constant process that builds mountains, moves continents, and creates the landscape in which life evolves or goes extinct.
African Hall - ongoing exhibit
Take a virtual safari through Africa by exploring the majestic dioramas of African Hall. Lions and cheetahs face off with zebras and antelope through the glass windows of their detailed displays, and a lowland gorilla invites you to ponder your ancestry. Look closely as you wander through the hall—these dioramas contain a few surprises: live tortoises, lizards, and fish have taken up residence in some of the smaller displays, and African penguins dip and dive in a 25,000-gallon tank at the end of the hall. Penguin feedings take place twice a day. Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-5:00pm; Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
Altered State: Climate Change in California – through February 5, 2012
Walk beneath an 87-foot-long blue whale skeleton, come face-to-face with a live rattlesnake, and marvel at dozens of other California treasures. Then track the potential impacts of climate change in California and around the world, and learn what you can do to help. Measure the impact of your family's everyday decisions on a carbon scale, and share your ideas for treading more lightly on the planet at a feedback station.
California Coast - ongoing exhibit
It never rains at the Academy's California Coast, an exhibit that highlights the state's diverse marine environments. Watch waves roll onto a sandy beach, peek inside a 100,000-gallon rocky coast tank, play hide-and-seek with a giant Pacific octopus, and come face-to-face with leopard sharks. You can even hold a hermit crab at the Discovery Tidepool and meet a 165-pound sea bass in the Tank of Giants. Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-5:00pm; Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
Evolving Traditions: Southwest Native Pottery and Silver – ongoing exhibit
Drawn from the Academy’s anthropology collections, this new exhibit highlights Native American pottery and silver jewelry created by members of the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni tribes, and by the Rio Grande Pueblos. Pieces range from the dramatic black-on-black pottery of Maria and Julian Martinez to the wrought silver bracelets of Kenneth Begay and others. Pieces from the 1920s through modern day document that certain designs and patterns persist. As they are carried on by successive generations, they are also simultaneously modified as the tradition evolves. A video display shows potters and jewelers at work. Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-5:00pm; Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
Islands of Evolution
Visit the remote islands of Madagascar and the Galapagos through the eyes of Academy scientists, and discover why islands function as laboratories for evolution. Examine specimens collected during Academy research expeditions, including Galapagos tortoise shells and fishes. Learn how scientists search for new species, and then put your new knowledge into practice, netting virtual butterflies with Wii gaming wands and setting pit-fall traps for virtual beetles. Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-5:00pm; Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
The Living Roof Stop and smell the wildflowers during a visit to the Academy's living roof, a 2.5-acre expanse of native California plants. Part of the museum's green building strategy, the roof provides superior insulation, prevents storm water runoff, reduces the urban heat island effect, and creates new habitat for native birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. An engineering marvel, the seven hills of the living roof roll over the Academy’s major exhibits and echo the hilly topography of San Francisco.
Morrison Planetarium
Upon arrival, please check the day’s show schedule, which is subject to change. Passes available on-site on a first-come-first-served basis. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
Life: A Cosmic Story – Shows daily through May 25, 2012
How did life on Earth begin? This tantalizing question forms the basis of Morrison Planetarium's newest show, narrated by two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster. Begin your journey by “shrinking” down to enter a single redwood leaf, and discover that all life on Earth shares a common ancestry. Then, travel through time to witness key events since the Big Bang that set the stage for life. Along the way, you will see two scenarios for the dawn of life on early Earth, and discover how our planet has changed since those microscopic beginnings.
Earthquake – Shows daily starting May 26, 2012
See description on page 1.
Philippine Coral Reef - ongoing exhibit
Dive into the world's deepest living coral reef tank without donning a wetsuit. Five underwater windows offer a fish's eye view into one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. Find Nemo—and 2,000 other reef fish—darting through a technicolor forest of coral, watch garden eels emerge from their underwater burrows, and admire the brilliant hues of a giant clam. Talk to scuba divers inside the exhibit, and on the surface, follow a boardwalk through a mangrove lagoon, where sharks and sting rays cruise beneath your feet.
Rainforests of the World - ongoing exhibit
Step inside a living rainforest, where water dripping from the mahogany and palm trees sets the beat for a symphony of croaking frogs and chirping birds. Peer into one of Borneo's bat caves, meet chameleons from Madagascar, and climb into the tree-tops of Costa Rica, where hundreds of tropical butterflies flutter like colorful confetti. Finally, descend in a glass elevator into the Amazonian flooded forest—the land of anacondas, piranhas, and electric eels. An acrylic tunnel allows you to walk beneath the Amazonian river fish that swim overhead.
Science in Action - ongoing exhibit
Go beyond the headlines and gain in-depth information about recent scientific discoveries around the world. Live talks by Academy scientists and short video pieces provide timely and relevant news about the natural world.
The Swamp - ongoing exhibit
Peer over the bronze railing of The Swamp tank if you dare—an American alligator and alligator snapping turtles rule the water below. Claude, a rare albino gator with startling white skin, may steal the lion's share of the attention, but it's hard to ignore his neighbors for too long. Snakes, frogs, and salamanders live in smaller tanks nearby, completing this snapshot of life in the swamps of the southeastern United States.
Water Planet - ongoing exhibit
What does it take to live underwater? Find out in this innovative exhibit that includes dozens of aquarium tanks filled with fish, reptiles, amphibians, jellyfish, and other invertebrates. The exhibit also features a short film about the most precious resource on the planet: water.
What is Missing? – permanent art installation
Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-5:00pm; Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
Where the Land Meets the Sea – permanent art installation
Like a line drawing in space, this sculpture by renowned artist Maya Lin depicts the topography between Angel Island and the Golden Gate Bridge. In addition to the land features Bay Area residents are used to seeing, the stainless steel sculpture seamlessly plunges below the water line, showing the terrain under the surface of San Francisco Bay, a perspective few ever get to see. Located on the Academy’s West terrace. Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-5:00pm; Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000.
Ongoing Events
Each day's full schedule of events is available on the Academy's website www.calacademy.org. Unless otherwise noted, all events are free with general admission. Visitor favorites include:
Penguin Feedings
The Academy's African penguins are always especially animated during meal time. Watch the birds dip and dive in their tank at the end of African Hall as a biologist dons a wet suit and hands out vitamin-stuffed herring and capelin twice a day. Each feeding takes 10 minutes, and questions are encouraged.
Coral Reef Dives
Watch as a diver suits up in SCUBA gear and plunges into the world’s deepest living coral reef exhibit. Outfitted with an underwater microphone, the diver will answer all of your reef-related questions.
Swamp Talk
Visit the Swamp and learn about some of the Academy's most popular animals, including an American alligator and alligator snapping turtles. You'll find out what it takes to care for these amazing creatures, which are native to swamps in the southeastern United States.
NightLife (ages 21+): every Thursday
Every Thursday night, music, creatures and cocktails come together for NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences. Explore exhibits and aquarium displays while sipping creative cocktails, and let exotic animals from around the world transport you to the tropics, Tibet, and dozens of other remote destinations. Special planetarium shows will take you even farther afield. Each week features a live band or DJ, and a unique theme – from salsa dancing to sustainable seafood and beyond. Find weekly details at www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/. Tickets are $12 per person. NightLife is for those ages 21 and over; a valid ID is required for entry.
And many more, see www.calacademy.org/events for a full schedule.
Tours
Enhance a visit to the Academy with a guided or self-guided tour.
• Behind-the-Scenes Tour: Daily
$89 per person (general admission included)
Go beyond the public exhibit spaces for an exclusive all-access look at the greenest museum on Earth. Tour highlights include interacting with Academy researchers in a working lab, viewing of some of the Academy's treasured gems and minerals, and visiting the aquarium's life support systems. The Platinum Tour also includes express entry into the building, VIP access to the four-story rainforest exhibit, reserved planetarium seating, and general admission for the entire day. Purchase tickets in advance online at www.calacademy.org/tours.
• NightLife VIP Tour (Ages 21 +): Every Thursday 6-8:00pm
$59 per person (NightLife admission included)
For an enhanced NightLife experience, join a NightLife VIP Tour. The one-hour behind-the-scenes tour includes a closer look at the unique native species of California's largest living roof, a private viewing of the Academy's renowned gem and mineral collection, and interaction with Academy researchers. In addition to the tour, guests receive VIP access to the Rainforests of the World exhibit, reserved planetarium show seats, and an open bar in a reserved cocktail area prior to the tour. Purchase tickets in advance online at www.calacademy.org/tours, or by calling 415.379.8000.
• After-Hours Wine and Dine Tour: Every Sunday at 6pm
$159 per person (dinner included)
Explore the Academy and its world class exhibits after it is closed to the public, and enjoy a delicious three course dinner designed by renowned chef and restaurateur Loretta Keller in the Moss Room. Begin with a wine reception, take a one-hour private tour of the Academy, and then sit down with your party for a special dinner in the Moss Room. This after-hours tour is perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, entertaining guests, special occasions or simply a relaxing evening with family and friends. Purchase tickets in advance online at www.calacademy.org/tours, or by calling 415.379.8000.
•Children’s Adventure Tour (Ages 5+): 10am Daily
$44.95 per adult, $29.95 per child (general admission included)
The Aquarium Adventure Tour explores coral reefs, lungfish, flashlight fish, and many other fascinating species, and even includes a visit to the aquarium’s prep kitchen, where the animals’ food is prepared each day. Each hour-long interactive tour includes general admission to the Academy for the entire day, VIP access to the Rainforests of the World exhibit, and a commemorative gift. A private animal encounter is included on Saturdays and Sundays. There must be an adult chaperone to every group of up to three children. Purchase tickets in advance online at www.calacademy.org/tours, or by calling 415.379.8000.
