the academy of sciences

[pauraque_bk]

For Christmas day, I went with my mom and my brother to the California Academy of Sciences, a wonderful natural history museum in Golden Gate Park at which I spent many an afternoon as a child. The Academy is closing this Wednesday to accomodate the tearing down and reconstruction of the building (for earthquake safety, I believe), so we went to take one last look at the place as we remember it.

And I sketched.



Pig 116. Part of an exhibit of several thousand animal skulls of every imaginable type. This is not really a pig, but some wild relative thereof. [EDIT: neotoma informs me that it's a Babirusa.]



Alligator Gar. Not an alligator, but in fact a fish, one of several giant (over six feet long) gars in the aquarium. This particular gentleman has lived at the museum since 1948. That's not a typo.



Smug Alligator. Now this is an alligator, who lives in a steamy rainforest pit near the entrance to the aquarium along with others of his kind, and some snapping turtles.



Roundabout. The famous Fish Roundabout, where visitors are surrounded by a torus-shaped tank of ever-circling fish, and one large ever-circling ray. Some decades ago, when a live Great White Shark was caught off the coast of San Francisco, it was temporarily put in the Roundabout because it was the largest saline tank available. The shark lived (and presumably circled) only a short time, after which its preserved body was displayed in a case near the alligators for many years.



The Antelope, its Matte Painting. A small antelope, one of a number of preserved animals in the African Hall.



Waterfowl, Track Lighting. Several preserved gulls suspended from the ceiling of the Wild California exhibit, the most memorable component of which is a diorama of microscopic sea creatures, blown up to gigantic size -- so popular that it proved impossible to sketch.



God Said, "Kidding!". The magnificent Quetzalcoatlus, an extinct pterasaur suspended from the ceiling of Life Through Time: The Evidence for Evolution, near the velociraptors. The wingspan of this furry dragon is something on the order of twenty feet -- it seems impossible that such an animal could have lived and, indeed, flown. A portion of its fossilized wing bone is suspended just below it, so that awestruck visitors can be assured that the scale of the model is not exaggerated.

There are few things in life that I love more than a good natural history museum.

And then we came home and watched "Topsy-Turvy". Mm, life is good.

Comments

[dailyplanet.livejournal.com]

I love your alligator. He does look smug, doesn't he!

[pauraque]

Thanks!

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Pig 116 is a Babirusa (http://magazine.naturecom.de/text/babirusa.html) -- and one of the more freaky pig relatives.

As for the the Quetzalcoatlus, did you know that the specific name is northropi? Give you an idea of just how impressive that wingspan is...

If you ever get out this way, the National Museum of Natural History (http://www.mnh.si.edu/) has some wonderful displays, from dinosaurs to Stellar sea cow to amazing collection of beasties shot by Teddy Roosevelt. Not to mention a giant squid...

[pauraque]

Thanks for the info. I have been to the NMNH, though it's been a couple of years, and unfortunately the person I was with wanted to hurry through to get to American History. I should come visit sometime, and we'll go and do it properly.

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had fun! And I am impressed you took the time to sketch.

[pauraque]

If I'd been by myself, I would have done more. Museum sketching is one of the great unsung pleasures in life.

[gelliaclodiana]

Their was an article in our Portland newspaper the other day about the Academy of Sciences and about the building they're planning--which sounds like it will be amazing. I used to go all the time as a child (in fact I broke my tooth on the bronze elephant in the courtyard on my seventh birthday) and I had no idea that it was also a first-class reearch institution. Apparently only 1% of the collection is on display at any given time.

[gelliaclodiana]

"There was..." How I wish one could edit comments.

[pauraque]

They had an exhibit on the new building, and it does look cool. The main new section will be a model rainforest, which should be great.

I've always wanted to go behind the scenes and explore the whole collection. My dad's seen bits of it (he's an ornithologist), and it sounds amazing.

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

Very nice sketches. I'm glad I got to see the Academy of Sciences before it closes. Hopefully when they re-open they'll have dusted their taxidermied animals...they all looked gross last time I was there.
I love that you included the track lighting in your gull sketch. *grin*

[pauraque]

Thanks. Yeah, the animals are pretty musty -- some of them have been on continuous display for at least 20 years, since I've been going. Actually, when taxidermied things *aren't* a little funky, it kind of freaks me out -- dead things shouldn't look alive, you know?

Astounding

[whimemsz.livejournal.com]

Great, great drawings Eo! Very impressive!

Re: Astounding

[pauraque]

Thanks!

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

Grrr, me and the Zoo group (mostly congruent to the group of people I had with me that time I stopped by) have been meaning to get to the Academy for the last couple months. How long is it going to be closed?

Re: Quetzacoatlus, most current estimates place its wingspan at 12m, maybe more. That's forty feet, not just twenty! I've heard it said that, aerodynamically, it had more in common with a small plane than any living flying creature.

Incredibly, there were birds with greater than a twenty foot wing span that probably seen by human eyes, if not within the last 10,000 years. There's a pretty complete record of Teratornis incredibilis with a 5m wing span (17 feet or there aboouts) and less complete records of bigger relatives. Including Argentavis magnificens estimated at a 8-12m wingspan (26 to 40 feet)!

Truth is stranger than Fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
- Mark Twain,

[pauraque]

How long is it going to be closed?

I'm not sure; it probably says on the web site. I think they're going to have an interim exhibit of some kind starting in Spring 2004.

Re: Quetzacoatlus, most current estimates place its wingspan at 12m, maybe more. That's forty feet, not just twenty!

The one at the AoS isn't as big as that, but I may have underestimated somewhat (as people tend to do when describing large animals, curiously enough).

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

these are awesome. i love how each sketch has a distinct mood; they're really alive for a bunch of decades-dead stuffed bastards. except for the ones that are alive. ...nevermind.

go watch peter pan!!!

*is braindead*

oh and i got the link and it worked. ^_^ shall deliver feedback soon, when i can form coherent sentences (might take a while; there is no overestimating the drug-like powers of that perfect perfect movie...)

PS i love these sketches lots lots lots :D

[pauraque]

Thank you!

go watch peter pan!!!

I fully intend to, as soon as I can round up someone to go with.

shall deliver feedback soon, when i can form coherent sentences (might take a while; there is no overestimating the drug-like powers of that perfect perfect movie...)

Hee. Take your time. :D

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Awww! Now I'm all sad again about the Academy closing. I've also been visiting since childhood, and have so many fond memories. Your drawings really made me nostalgic, esp. the alligator one. :)

But I hear that they're going to leave the aquarium portion intact?

.m

[pauraque]

But I hear that they're going to leave the aquarium portion intact?

I heard the same thing, but it doesn't really say on the web site. It says that "some" of the aquarium animals will be moved to the temporary site near Yerba Buena Gardens, so I assume the rest will stay where they are -- where else would they put them?