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Location
Best time
Arrive early or visit on weekdays to avoid long lines at the Rainforest Dome, which reviews confirm is the busiest spot in the building. Lines move quickly once you're in, but early arrival means shorter waits to enter.
Visitor tip
Arrive at least 30 minutes after the museum opens, as the Rainforest Dome doesn't open until then. This prevents wasted time waiting for access and allows you to experience it at the beginning of your visit rather than at the end.
Visitor tip
Check the butterfly emergence chamber on the top floors to watch butterflies in their early lifecycle stages—reviews highlight this as a particularly magical and photo-worthy experience that many visitors specifically seek out.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Rainforest Exhibit at Science Center
- Size
- World's largest glass dome rainforest (90-foot diameter)
- Highlights
- 1,600+ live animals, 250 free-flying birds, exotic reptiles, flooded forest tunnel through 100,000-gallon aquarium
- Hours
- Mon-Sat 10am-4:30pm, Sun 11am-4:30pm (opens 30 min after museum)
What visitors say
The Osher Rainforest is one of the biggest highlights of the California Academy of Sciences. It’s mainly known for its free flying butterflies, but you will also find macaws, fish, spiders, and other creatures in this rainforest’s…
As soon as you walk inside the recreated rainforest, you will be hit by the difference in humidity and temperature. The recreated rainforest is so beautiful and astonishing. There are so many free living butterflies 🦋 and spiders 🕷️…
The Rainforest Dome is the busiest spot of the building. There’s always a long line, but once you join, it goes by very quickly. Inside, the ambient air is warm and humid. Lots of butterflies fly inside this ecosystem. At the end of the…
From 90 Google reviews
Did You Know?
- The Osher Rainforest is a four-story neotropical rainforest dome standing 90 feet tall, featuring a 100,000-gallon Amazonian flooded forest tank with a transparent tunnel walk-through
- The exhibit maintains tropical rainforest conditions year-round at 82-85°F with 75%+ humidity, creating an immersive environment with free-flying butterflies and live macaws, fish, spiders, and other ecosystem species
- Visitors can observe the complete butterfly lifecycle from emergence through flight in a dedicated butterfly emergence chamber on the top floor of the dome
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