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Hidden Wonders: Inside the Academy's Collections
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"Kitty," our California saber-toothed cat (Smilodon californicus) fossil, was collected from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
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At up to 3 inches long, the beauty of the metallic wood-boring beetle (Euchroma gigantea) is matched only by its brawn.
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This monkeyface prickleback (Cebidichthys violaceus) specimen has been cleared and stained to reveal its internal anatomy.
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An American Anhinga in a rare hand-painted Audubon folio from the Academy Library, published 1827-1830.
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This Pomo basket from the early-1900s is made from a variety of natural materials, including grasses, feathers, and shells.
From the microscopic to the massive, the Academy’s newest exhibition provides an unprecedented peek at some of the standout specimens from our scientific collections—including some on view for the very first time.
Nearly 40 thousand animals are on exhibit at the Academy. But did you know there are nearly 46 million specimens behind-the-scenes?
Hidden Wonders: Inside the Academy’s Collections offers a look into the Academy’s vast “library of life,” an archive of objects from around the world and across the eons. With nearly 800 fascinating specimens on display, guests will learn why scientists and museums collect, and how collections are an invaluable, irreplaceable resource for conserving and regenerating the natural world.
A specimen’s legacy
Hidden Wonders invites guests to follow a specimen’s path from observation to analysis to preservation to see firsthand how collections are built—and how the legacy of a specimen extends far beyond its lifetime. The exhibition also highlights the tools and technologies that enable our scientists to extract DNA from specimens collected long ago.
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Collecting is conserving
By understanding the past, we can protect the future. Our scientific collections are a vital record of our planet’s natural history, allowing scientists and researchers to track the spread of disease over time, predict the impact of climate change on species and ecosystems, help prevent future extinctions, and more.
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Multi-sensory science
Explore the exhibition with your eyes, ears, and hands: Touch an ancient ammonite fossil from 126-113 million years ago; listen to audio recordings of bird songs collected to chart changing biodiversity; and learn more about the objects on exhibit through digital kiosks or scanning their QR codes with your smartphone.
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Specimen spotlight
The deeper you go, the bigger things can get. Case in point: The giant isopod (Bathynomus kensleyi). Superficially resembling a super-sized pill bug, this crustacean scavenges the seafloor at depths of 560-8,200 feet and can grow up to 14 inches long. This particular specimen was collected by Academy scientists during a 2011 Philippines expedition.
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All specimen photos on this page by Gayle Laird © California Academy of Sciences. Counterclockwise from top: Galápagos tortoise (Chelonoidis duncanensis); blue coral (Heliopora coerulea); giant isopod (Bathynomus kensleyi); ammonite (Crioceratites latum)
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See color on a different scale as you zoom in on butterfly wings, iridescent beetles, bird feathers, and more.
As we seek to regenerate the natural world, what can we learn from the original stewards of our planet?
Take a peek at some of the oldest, rarest, and most unusual specimens in the Academy's research collections.
See how the Academy's strategic initiatives are regenerating coral reefs, tropical islands, and California.
Our research focuses include human evolution, paleoclimatology, paleoecology, ethnographic studies, and more.
Meet the Academy's herpetologists and explore our collection of 315,000+ amphibian and reptile specimens.
The Department of Ichthyology is home to one of the largest, most significant collections of fish in the world.
The Department of Botany seeks to discover, document, and protect Earth's incredible diversity of land plants.
Dig in to the Academy's most diverse collection, home to over 2.5 million specimens from corals to fossils.
Academy entomologists conduct insect and arachnid research and manage a collection of 17 million specimens.
The Academy Library, founded in 1853, is a research library devoted to natural history and the natural sciences.
Our researchers tackle difficult, unanswered questions about bird and mammal populations found around the world.
Generously supported by Pauline and Tom Tusher