Field Trip to the California Academy of Sciences and Safari West!

We learned so much on our trips to the California Academy of Sciences and Safari West. The trip supplemented our classroom learning on Africa and we gained a lot of additional insight into the history, culture and amazing animals of this continent.

On the Living Roof of the California Academy of Sciences.

Beautiful jellies in the Steinhart Aquarium

We arrived at Safari West and met our tour guide. He was amazing. He knew so much about all of the different animals. He explained that Safari West is working hard to contribute to keeping many critically endangered species alive, including rhino and some very fragile antelope species.

Mr. Renato gets a kiss from a giraffe. Their tongues are dark to stop them getting sunburned!

There were many exotic birds at Safari West

Giraffe selfie-shot. There are two baby giraffes currently. They weigh 120 lbs as newborns.

Ostrich are very curious and aggressive.

It was fun on the Jeep ride, but sometimes the animals were a wee bit scary!!

This is the official bird and symbol of Uganda. One of the students did a country report on Uganda and we were all excite to see the bird!

The cattle were originally bred and developed by the Ancient Egyptians. Fascinating as we had recently studies Ancient Egypt and had seen cattle depicted in the frescoes and art pieces.

We learned that zebra are very aggressive animals which is why humans cannot ride or domesticate them,

Safari West has many antelope species, including lots of endangered animals. Their captive breeding program is especially important keeping some breeds that have less than 300 individual cattle left.

The lemur exhibit!

Most giraffes in Africa have this darker coloring. The lighter ones are more known in zoo settings.

Flamingo at the watering hole.