Opened in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco , California in September 2008, this mind blowing museum (one of the 10 largest natural history museums in the world) is the only place on this planet that with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum and a 4 level rainforest exist- all under one roof!

Awarded the U.S. Green Building Councils highest mark of sustainability, the LEED Platinum ranking. The Academy is green on many levels: it’s insulated by nontoxic, second-hand blue jeans; it’s topped off with a 2.5-acre “living roof” stocked with 1.7 million native California species (which will absorb about 2 million gallons of rainwater annually); its pair of celebrity chef-led restaurants feature organic produce and local seafood; its glorious glass piazza uses an automated ventilation system to let in cool breezes from the park and refresh the building; it’s set to consume 30 percent less energy than required by federal codes; and its 60,000 photovoltaic cells will use solar power to produce between 5 and 10 percent of the museum's energy needs.

Whatever your interests, the new Academy is designed to engage and inspire like no other museum on earth. Not only is the building itself a stunning architectural achievement but the new Academy contains multiple venues, hundreds of unique exhibits and nearly 40,000 live animals.

Slip on a pair of 3D glasses and check out Bugs3D! shot on location in the tropical forests of Borneo. Meet Claude the Albino Alligator and hang out with Pierre, Howard, Ocio and the rest of the South African Penguin colony.

You'll love the latest amazing digital planetarium show "Journey to the Stars" narrated by actrress Whoopi Goldberg who takes you on a journey through time and space to experience the dramatic lives and deaths of stars, witness brilliant supernova explosions, dive into the heart of the fiery sun and watch it transform into a giant red ball five billion years in the future. (7-10 times per day)

Designed by award winning architect Renzo Piano, the Academy will inspire lifelong curiosity for the natural world as you experience the depths of a Philippine coral reef, climb into the canopy of a Costa Rican rainforest and fly to the outer reaches of the Universe.