55 Music Concourse Dr.
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco CA
94118
415.379.8000
Regular Hours:

Daily

9:30 am – 5:00 pm

Sunday

11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Members' Hours:

Tuesday

8:30 – 9:30 am

Sunday

10:00 – 11:00 am
Closures
Notices

The Academy will be closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

There are no notifications at this time.

Naturalist Notebook 

March 6, 2012

Spotlight On…

Check out this week’s featured specimen!

(Pictured below, really close up!)
3_6_12
Photo: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration

Can you guess what it is?

Here are some hints:

  • This animal lives in large groups.
  • This animal can dive up to 650 ft (200m) in search of its prey.



Leave us a comment with your answer! Then come see us in the Classroom on Sunday, March 11 at 2:30 pm for Science Story Adventures to see if you’re right and to learn more about this animal. Science Story Adventures is our program for children ages 4 – 8 and their caregivers. In the program, we explore the natural world through stories, specimens, games and crafts.


Filed under: Spotlight On... — nature @ 2:03 pm

3 Comments »

  1. My guess is a dolphin! And by the coloration of the specimen in the photo, I’d say it were a Common Dolphin of genus Delphinus. I’m not sure about species though. :/

    Comment by Daniel — March 6, 2012 @ 11:38 pm

  2. Is it a porpoise? Tough to tell from the picture, but I guess that’s the point.

    Comment by Be Green — March 7, 2012 @ 9:29 am

  3. Thanks for the great guesses! This week’s specimen is a short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). We had lots of fun today learning about dolphin communication in Science Story Adventures. To learn more about short-beaked common dolphins, check out the following websites:

    Comment by nature — March 11, 2012 @ 3:17 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

Academy Blogroll