So this happened while in line for the rain forest at the California Academy of Sciences a few weeks back. It was a Thursday “adults only” Night Life event. I guess they’re “treating” a crow and some sort of falcon or small hawk. Video after the jump…
It’s one thing to imagine the mentality of those who choose to do this to dead animals – gut them, prune them, stuff them, and pose them. Seeing it is another matter. The nonchalance is a bit unnerving, especially when it’s not some backwoods mouth-breather but rather a couple of be-smocked scientists in the middle of a museum.
I’ve been scarred by seeing bad taxidermy in the past – I mean, sometimes things should just stay dead:
OTOH, I love the good stuff, like you can find at Paxton Gate.
Anyway, Night Life is recommended, with its $12 entrance fee and lack of kids to dodge. Some warnings, though: the kids are replaced by drunken geeks, which are remarkably similar but tougher to get around. Also, it’s really hard to see both the rain forest and the planetarium show in one night, since there will be a line for the rain forest and they often run out of planetarium seats early on.
The night I went, another bottleneck was created because the penguin exhibit was not available for the first couple of hours due to a private event that they didn’t announce ahead of time, so you should call and check about that sort of thing (the people who answer the phone are incredibly nice and straight-forward). The penguins tend to be asleep at night anyway, so there’s that.
Oh, but the planetarium show is divinely narrated by Whoopi Goldberg – in space!
The soil of a man’s heart is stony, yah.