San Diego’s cutest conservation story is about to swim into the spotlight! Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego opens its brand-new exhibition, The Axolotl’s Garden / El Jardín del Ajolote, on October 21 — just in time for the aquarium’s Halloween celebrations.
The new exhibition invites guests to discover the world of the endangered axolotl, the smiling salamander of Mexico’s Lake Xochimilco, through two brand-new habitats plus other unique Mexican species like Tequila Splitfins and Blind Cave Tetras. Created in collaboration with artist Itzel Islas, the exhibition is a living story-world inspired by the ecological and cultural richness of Mexico and Baja California — and it is included with general admission.
The opening also kicks off six months of axolotl-inspired programming, including two Día de los Muertos ofrendas by artist Maricruz Alvarado honoring animals — one for community members’ lost pets and one for imperiled species like the vaquita and the axolotl itself.
Be among the first to experience it all during the aquarium’s Halloween events: adults-only Oceans at Night: Halloween on October 22 (6:30–9:30 p.m.), followed by the family-friendly Halloween Aglow on October 23 and 24 (6–8:30 p.m.), with trick-or-treating in the aquarium, underwater pumpkin carving by Birch divers, and the science of slime in the Boo and Goo Lab. Costumes encouraged!
Photo: BlueInOrbit / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
