Vanishing Animals Exhibit Opens May 27

May 5, 2016

In summer 2016 the Aquarium will transform its changing exhibits gallery to launch new exhibits and programs focusing on the issue of ocean extinctions and how to prevent them. The gallery space will highlight impacts of human activities on land resulting in terrestrial animal extinctions, tell stories of rebounds from near-extinction, then show through live animal exhibits, multimedia and interactive displays, and interpretive panels how we have the opportunity in the near future to avert a similar path in the ocean. Animals on display will include fishes, newts, and salamanders native to local streams, as well as some invasive species of crayfish and finfish in these ecosystems; American alligators; healthy corals contrasted with corals overgrown with algae; oysters, mussels, and white abalone, representing species commonly propagated in aquaculture farms; Atlantic cod; and cardinal tetras and discus fish.

Visitors will also be able to learn more about animal extinctions, humans’ relationship with our planet, and our future ocean through a five-minute daily show projected on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Science on a Sphere in the Aquarium’s Ocean Science Center. The Aquarium collaborated with outside experts on the new extinction exhibition, including Dr. Douglas McCauley (University of California, Santa Barbara), Dr. Elizabeth Hadly (Stanford University), and Dr. Anthony Barnosky (University of California, Berkeley).

Public Dates: May 27, 2016, to March 31, 2017 Press Preview: Thursday, May 26, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The Aquarium is open daily, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and until 8:00 p.m. on summer Sundays.