Animal Care & Wellbeing

Accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 1994, the California Academy of Sciences meets the highest standards in animal care and wellbeing, while also providing a fun, safe, and educational experience for visitors of all ages. The Academy also joins other AZA zoos and aquariums in dedicating millions of dollars annually to support scientific research, conservation, and education programs.

The Academy strongly believes that the wellbeing of the animals in our care is both a moral responsibility and foundational to our mission and values. Whether it's providing stimulating daily enrichment or world-class veterinary care, our animals are always our top priority—and our passion.

Explore this page:
Veterinary care >>
Animal enrichment >>
Animal welfare assessments >>
Conservation breeding program >>
AZA accreditation >>
Meet the Animal Care team >>

The Academy has two staff veterinarians who safeguard the health of our animals at every life stage.

The biggest part of their job is maintaining the ongoing health of the animals, which involves performing physical examinations, administering treatments, and conducting necropsies to determine causes of death after an animal dies. The veterinarians also oversee the nutrition program for the aquarium's animals.

The frequency of veterinary exams varies by animal, from annually for animals such as penguins and grasshopper mice, to every three years for sharks and rays, to five years for Claude, our albino alligator.

Our Animal Health Department is also always ready to respond when a situation arises that requires urgent attention. Over the years, they have had to remove a shoe from Claude’s stomach while a fire alarm was going off and perform a C-section on a tiny dwarf seahorse using a magnifying glass, among other emergencies. They also have pioneered new treatments to treat a common tendon injury in baby penguins and remove sea spiders from the aquarium’s coral reefs without harming the corals.

Biologists at Steinhart Aquarium keep animals healthy and engaged in a variety of creative ways.

Enrichment serves two vital functions for animals like penguins, stingrays, and macaws:

1. Enrichment helps the animals communicate and connect with their caregivers.
2. Enrichment and training sessions allow the Animal Care team to monitor the health and wellbeing of our animals.

Enrichment activities and experiences vary widely from animal to animal. For stingrays, for instance, items such as fabricated grasses and algaes, and textured mats are rotated through the habitat, similar to how their surroundings in the wild would constantly change, in order to keep their minds active and curious. Penguins may receive nesting materials, while macaws often receive puzzle feeders with treats hidden inside. And the highly intelligent giant Pacific octopus is engaged through daily enrichment sessions that include tactile sessions, items to manipulate, and puzzles, such as a jar that must be unscrewed to reach the food inside.

Aquarium staff perform regular rounds to ensure they receive a 360-degree view of animal health and wellbeing.

Animal welfare assessments are conducted in a variety of ways, from the biologists’ daily assessment of each animal in their care, to formal quarterly evaluations from the veterinarian, curators, and directors of Steinhart Aquarium.

Each animal or group of animals’ behavior, choice and control, and affective or mental states is reviewed with the biologists and curator no less than twice per year. During an annual assessment, the Animal Health and Animal Care teams evaluate nutrition, environment, and health of individuals, plus a review of all aspects of animal welfare.

In addition to educating and engaging the public, the Academy directly contributes to critical animal conservation efforts.

Since 1995, all penguin chicks hatched at the Academy have been part of the AZA African Penguin Species Survival Plan. Institutions participating in this initiative aim to maintain the species' genetic diversity in captive populations through collaborative exchanges and strategic breeding. In October 2024, the International Union for Conservation of Nature uplisted African penguins from “endangered” to “critically endangered,” making the Academy’s penguin conservation work more urgent than ever.

As a leader in spawning corals and rearing starfish, the Academy also participates in AZA’s Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) Coral Program and SAFE Sunflower Sea Star Program.

Less than 10% of the licensed 2,800 wildlife exhibitors in the U.S. meet the more comprehensive standards of AZA accreditation.

Every five years the Academy goes through a rigorous process to renew its accreditation with AZA, the independent accrediting organization for the best zoos and aquariums in the world. AZA-accredited facilities like ours meet the highest standards for animal care and welfare.

AZA requires member institutions to repeat the accreditation process every five years to ensure that they are upholding the continuously evolving standards, incorporating best modern zoological practices in animal welfare and management, and embracing modern AZA philosophies.

The Steinhart Aquarium Animal Welfare Program is structured in accordance with the AZA Animal Welfare Committee definition of welfare: an animal’s collective physical, mental, and emotional states over a period of time. An animal typically experiences good welfare when they are healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, able to develop and express species-typical relationships, behaviors, and cognitive abilities, and not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, or distress.