San Diego Natural History Museum
2010.12.26
We started this day at the San Diego Natural History Museum, in Balboa Park.
After browsing through the first floor of the atrium, we began with an exhibit called Water: A California Story, focusing on water usage in southern California. It was primarily a cautionary tale about using up limited supplies of fresh water, but along with those exhibits and presentation boards, there were a number of glass box dioramas with mounted native creatures.
We skipped up to the top level of the museum, where the BioScapes exhibit displayed colorful light microscope photographs from the seventh annual Olympus BioScapes competition. There was also a Best of Nature Photography Show exhibit. Because the framed images were for sale, photography was not allowed.
Then we headed to the second floor, where the main exhibits are located. Near the second level entrance was this slice of a fossilized Giant Sequoia tree from an ancient forest in what is now eastern Oregon.
The Fossil Mysteries exhibit was too dark and too crowded with kids to take photographs. It featured full or partial skeletons of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. There were some interactive exhibits showing how various animal or bird bones moved as they walked or flew.
The Lizards & Snakes: Alive! was full of scaly squamates. On the left, a Cuban Knight Anole. On the right, an Eastern Water Dragon.
Below, Leaf-tailed Geckos blend in or hang on.
On the left, a Madagascan Giant Day Gecko. On the right, an Emerald Tree Boa.
On the left, a Gabon Viper. On the right, the dangerous looking but non-venomous Campbell’s Milk Snake.
On the left, a Red Spitting Cobra. On the right, a Burmese Python.
An American Mastodon skeleton.
We wrapped up our visit to the museum on the lower level, with All That Glitters: The Splendor and Science of Gems and Minerals.
Below, a miniature replica of the Balboa Park carousel inside an enamel egg. There are 56 hand-carved animals, and an elaborate music-box mechanism that plays music and turns the carousel.
On the left, Amazonite and Smoky Quartz crystals. On the right, Tourmaline crystals and jewelry. The Empress Dowager Cixi’s fondness for pink tourmaline made it quite popular in late 1800’s China. Mines near San Diego produced 120 tons of tourmaline during her lifetime, most of which was shipped to China.
“There’s gold in them thar hills.” The river-smoothed nugget is familiar, but mined gold is frequently found in a crystalline form with white quartz. On the right, Benitoite and Neptunite in Natrolite. Benitoite (the blue crystals), the state gem of California, is named after San Benito County, the only place in the world where it is found.
Below, a Labradorite boulder. The iridescent, metallic luster apparent at certain angles is called labradorescence.
Near the museum entrance is a huge Moreton Bay Fig tree planted around 1914.
Zoo Afternoon