San Francisco: Part I

[jennifer]

Part I: California Academy of Sciences. One of the curators here must have a real soft spot for caudates. I never imagined any museum would have this many species in one building. In fact, caudates outnumbered anurans here!

This Andrias davidianus posed quite nicely:

This photo is for Pin-pin, who told me that these animals don't move except for feedings. This one was pretty active while I was there!

Siren intermedia:

Pleurodeles waltl:

The Cynops ensicauda popei were laying eggs while I was there.

Good 'ol axolotls:

A hiding fire salamander in a setup that I didn't like:

(Message edited by jennewt on November 12, 2005)

 

[jennifer]

Oops, missed one. Notophthalmus viridescens.

 

[rubén]

Thanks for sharing Jennifer

It's my perception or seems to be huge animals ( all )?

 

[terry]

wow jennifer thanks for the view!
(Bows down to Andrias and hangs a shimenawa round the display tank)

Those Cynops ensicausa popei sure look large indeed. I wonder what do they feed them?

 

[josh]

Whoa the Siren and the axolotls look huge!
Cool pictures Jen.

 

[jennifer]

They were all normal sizes. Maybe my camera makes them look larger somehow? Only the Andrias were really huge... about 3 feet long. The Pleuros were probably a good 8 inches. The Notophthalmus was only about 3 inches, but the camera was close to the tank.

I initially misidentified the Andrias. It was davianus, not japonicus as I had originally written.

 

[joan]

That's small for an Andrias, but huge in relation to the others! It's always pleasant to see davidianus, as I have to travel for many moons (or at least to St. Louis) to see one.

 

[william]

how do you tell the two andrias species apart?

 

[TJ]

William, for one thing, that grayish coloration is a giveaway, though there seems to be some variation in coloration in A. davidianus. I've seen brown ones too. But I've never seen an A. japonicus with the coloration you see in that photo.

Jennifer, ah, so that's where you were off to with this mysterious disappearance of yours, for days on end! We'll have to give you a full debriefing -- make that <u>interrogation</u> if you refuse to cooperate!

I love those black axoltls!

(Message edited by tj on November 14, 2005)

 

[terry]

Tim, Thumb screws and hot coals. Or the Chinese Finger puzzle. That ought to do the trick!

Jenn, The Andrias photo is my favourite though its angle does not display much detail of the animal. Nevertheless thanks for the lovely photos!

 

[ester]

ohhh dorsalis... *dream*
Thanks for sharing those pictures Jen, and I fully agree.. I feel sorry for that fire salamander!

 

[pin-pin]

Ha, those are wonderful photos. I'm glad you visited the CAS. It's a wonderful place and I usually take any friends who visit me there nowadays.

Heh, that was good the Andrias was performing for you. I'm not sure if you noticed, but they had Tarichas upstairs in a terrestrial set-up when I visited. Unfortunately they gave them a bit too much groundcover and we only saw the tips of their tails.

 

[edward]

Hi Jen,
Those are great pictures

Ed

 

[TJ]

Jen, shame on you for not requesting to see the Cynops wolterstorffi specimens that the CAS has in its collection!

http://www.calacademy.org/research/herpetology/catalog/BrwsHerpRecDisp.asp?Atr=Sp&Val=wolterstorffi%2C+Cynops

 

[jennifer]

If only I had known... next time I'll demand to see the wolterstorffi!!

As for the interrogation... wild Andrias couldn't drag it out of me