Learn & Explore

Tough Skin, Fragile Future

Learn how Academy scientists and exhibit conservators prepared a black rhino specimen for our new exhibit.

Enter the Academy's newest exhibit—Skin: Living Armor, Evolving Identity—and come eye-to-eye with an awe-inspiring black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) specimen. Learn how Academy scientists and exhibit conservators transported and prepared this important research specimen, donated to the Academy in 1952, for the new exhibit. As habitat loss and poaching push the black rhinoceros closer to extinction in the wild, Academy scientists hope this specimen will inspire visitors and deepen their understanding of today's most pressing conservation challenges.

Learn more: calacademy.org/exhibits/skin-living-armor-evolving-identity