The little testudine that could.
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is one of the Bay Area’s foremost culture centers. Complete with accessible and lauded exhibits — 2022’s exhibit dedicated to the life and ongoing legacy of Angela Davis — it’s also become a peaceful respite amid this summer’s record-breaking temperatures; OMCA has chilly central air conditioning that blows through each of its indoor exhibits.
Another less-appreciated nicety of OMCA is its dolloping of greenspaces and water fixtures. The newest entrance to the Great Lawn allows access to the garden — directly off Lake Merritt — and exists as a community space to have lunch and take in the Kevin Roche-designed architecture and sprawling views of Oakland.
As for said hinted water fixtures? OMCA has a somewhat brutalist adaptation of a watershed environment, one of the Bay Area’s foremost regional habitats.
(Fun fact: San Francisco Bay-Delta watershed covers more than 75,000 square miles — or, to put it another way, encompasses an area 1,530 times larger than San Francisco, itself.) There’s also a cute and fun and flirty koi pond for visitors to fawn over toward the museum’s entrance.
The human-made habitats are a collection of both residential and transient wildlife. Red tail hawks are even known to perch inside the watershed exhibit. But most recently, a persistent turtle captured the hearts of onlookers and social media users as it tried to escape the museum’s pond dedicated to Japanese carp.
Despite what appeared like an insurmountable concrete ledge, the small reptile kept trying to climb up it … nevermind its biological handicaps; when your body is a rigid, bony shell, effortlessly maneuvering over cement isn’t exactly in the cards.
Nevertheless, he (she? they?) persisted.
“Let our turtle friends teach you if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again,” reads the caption of an Instagram post showing one of the many acrobatic attempts made by a small resident turtle.
After plopping back into the water, the turtle falls flat on its back, quickly uprighting itself before pausing. Maybe it’s translating this failure as an opportunity for growth, perhaps it’s contemplating how it can improve its next chin-up. But what’s certain is that said turtle friend will try again … and maybe one day succeed.
TBD on what said ectotherm has planned if it does prevail.
