CITY ARTS : Catching Hatching

Nearly three years after the California Museum of Science and Industry was forced to close its chick hatchery exhibit because of seismic damage to the building, the display has returned along with bullfrog tadpoles.

The hatchery, which had been among the museum’s educational exhibits since the 1950s, reopened last week as part of the Eggciting Beginnings exhibit.

Visitors can view eggs as they hatch as well as use microscopes to observe how the embryos develop, said David Combs, a physiologist and curator of the exhibit at the museum.

“The focus is really on how animals come from eggs and how they develop,” Combs said. “A chicken working it’s way out of an egg is almost as amazing as a person being born. The chicks work very hard and are exhausted by the time they come out.”

Weekly delivery of eggs to the museum ensure that visitors aren’t disappointed and “someone is hatching every day.” Frog development will also be part of the exhibit.

The hatchery was redesigned and is now located in the Science South structure. The exhibit continues indefinitely.

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“Eggciting Beginnings,” 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at the California Museum of Science and Industry, 700 State Drive, Exposition Park. Free. (213) 744-7400.