The Hidden Worlds
Where the smallest lives tell the biggest stories.
Overview
An immersive, science-rich play zone where fungi, insects, microbes, and decomposers take center stage. Hidden Worlds invites visitors into the vibrant ecosystems beneath our feet—where networks form, nutrients cycle, and life quietly thrives. From mycelium to beetles, pollinators to probiotics, this zone celebrates the overlooked life systems that sustain entire forests, farms, and futures.
Why This Matters
Fungi, insects, and microbes are everywhere—but rarely understood. They are nature’s recyclers, connectors, and healers—breaking down the old, nourishing the new, and weaving the threads of every ecosystem on Earth. They offer powerful tools for climate resilience, sustainable design, and ecological renewal.
What You’ll Experience
Field microscope stations, time-lapse fungus videos, spore printing tables, and touchable fungal textures.
MycoTech innovation lab showcasing real-world fungal solutions—like mushroom leather, and biodegradable materials.
Foraging walks, mushroom ID workshops, and forest medicine storytelling, led by local mycologists, herbalists, and chefs.
Global fungi culture exhibits spotlighting Indigenous knowledge and culinary/medicinal uses from Japan, Mexico, Siberia, and beyond.
Live insect colonies and terrariums featuring compost beetles, native pollinators, and social insects like ants or bees.
Microbial wonders corner introducing compost microbes, probiotics, and the role of bacteria in soil regeneration and gut health.
Tasting den for sampling seasonal mushrooms, kid-friendly snacks, and fermented plant foods made with microbial partners.
Be part of reimagining how SF cares for the wild.
Support the transformation of the San Francisco Zoo into a living EcoPark — a place rooted in care, creativity, and coexistence.
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Change starts here — in our city, for our planet.