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We take a look inside the new orca exhibition at the Natural History Museum
The life-size replicas of an orca family on display at the Natural History Museum of LA County.
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Robert Garrova / LAist
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Orcas, the lovable black and white marine predators, have taken over 10,000 square feet of the Natural History Museum of L.A. County.
Orcas: Our Shared Future, which opened Sunday, includes floor to ceiling screens that play orcas swimming in the wild and a life-size replica of Ruffles.
He was one of the first orcas Alisa Schulman-Janiger, lead research biologist for the California Killer Whale Project, saw in the wild back in the 80s.
“It’s not him but it represents him," she said. "And I can actually go back in time and replay: I was standing here and my boyfriend who became my husband was standing next to me... seeing them under us foraging for fish."
Schulman-Janiger, who is also a research associate for the museum, said there was a sighting of these giants — the largest members of the dolphin family — in our local waters just this month.
“In the Channel Islands,” she said. “I just looked at some photos today sent to me by one of the naturalists... and she saw at least 16 different orcas.”
About the exhibition
There are 140 original artifacts and specimens to see and experience at the immersive show, including sculptures and masks by Indigenous artists of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Fred DeNisco, an orca expert from British Columbia who goes by ‘The Orca Man’ on social media, said he fell in love with orcas at the age of three, while watching 1993’s Free Willy in the back of a mini-van.
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An original 'Free Willy' VHS clamshell on display at the Natural History Museum of LA County
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Robert Garrova
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LAist
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He’s followed the exhibition all over the U.S. and Canada.
“It is just so unique in the breadth of topics that it covers, both in indigenous relationships with orcas, the research and more particularly our human relationship and the tumultuous relationship that has in media and captivity and even whale watching,” DeNisco told LAist.
And in case you’re wondering, the exhibition does include an original clamshell for a VHS copy of Free Willy, the film that inspired a generation of orca-lovers like DeNisco.
How to go
You can check out Orcas: Our Shared Future through April 25, 2027.
Museum hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles
Phone: 213.763.DINO (3466)
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Ticket info is at the Natural History Museum website. Note: There is an additional fee for the exhibition ($12 for adults, $6 for children)
Editor's note: LAist is one of the Natural History Museum’s media partners for the exhibition, Orcas: Our Shared Future. Our editorial coverage is independent of that partnership.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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