We lost our dear Claude a week ago, and there are still no words. Luckily, there are plenty of pictures. Enjoy.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 2, 2025) — It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Claude, our beloved albino alligator, has passed away at the age of 30. Claude was an iconic California ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 1, 2025) — Submissions for the California Academy of Sciences ' 2026 BigPicture: Natural World Photography Competition are now open, and will be accepted through March 1, ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 7, 2023) — Today the California Academy of Sciences and partners across the City are thrilled to announce the new Reimagining San Francisco urban nature alliance, which ...

“The Permian-Triassic extinction serves as a model for studying biodiversity loss on our planet today,” says Academy Curator of Geology Peter Roopnarine, PhD. “In this study, we determined that ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (June 26, 2025) — Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences and partners rediscovered a presumed-extinct black stony coral species in the Galápagos—its first sighting in 24 ...

WHAT: Three fully mature sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) are now on exhibit for the first time in the California Academy of Sciences’ Steinhart Aquarium, sharing a habitat with the ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 5, 2025) — The 10th annual City Nature Challenge global bioblitz has concluded, yielding more than 3.3 million wildlife observations for another record-breaking year. Over the ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 26, 2024) – Love is in the water and hope is in the air for the critically endangered Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) as a multi-institution collaborative team ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 15, 2022) — California now has two new scorpions on its list of species, thanks to the efforts of two keen-eyed high school students from the Bay Area and the California ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (March 17, 2025) —More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, and beneath the surface lies a hidden world. In Unseen Oceans, a new exhibition on view at the ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 18, 2025) — Academy researchers and partners made the first discovery of both a new genus and species of plant in a U.S. national park in nearly 50 years. The ...