Fish! Butterflies! And Taxidermy?...

The lines are ridiculous.  They snake out around the building and into the tree covered park even before opening at 9:30am.  It is worth it though, to see the live roof and the fish swimming.  It really is.  

The creepy part though is the section with the taxidermy endangered species.  It just seems kind of wrong, you know?  Especially the fact that the poor penguins are stuck looking at them.  The room with the taxidermy animals houses scenes of safaris and forests on three walls, and on the third, you can look through a glass wall at the live penguins swimming around.  I wouldn't enjoy looking at dead animals all of the time if I were a penguin.  

The rain forest bubble is pretty neat though.  The air is sticky hot and butterflies land on your shoulder.  You look through the lake of water, past the fish, and see through the glass floor into another room with people looking through.  It is an odd sensation to see people walking calmly beneath the water's surface.  

The alligators are my favorite.

Location: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.