Ice Age in Los Angeles: LA Brea Tar Pits

Buried beneath Los Angeles are the fossil remains of millions of plants and animals from enormous mammoths to tiny beetles. For over 100 years, scientists have been finding and studying these amazing fossils from these underground Tar Pits and have discovered what life was like at the end of the Ice Age between 10,000 to 50,000 years ago. You can see for yourself at the LA Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Southern California – just minutes from Downtown Los Angeles.

There are two parts to this unique experience. First, the tar pits themselves which are located outside (and can be seen at no charge). And second, the actual museum is inside which costs a small fee but is totally worth it. The Museum houses the world’s largest Ice Age fossil collection (five million fossils). Most importantly, they are still finding new fossils almost daily and finding out new things constantly from these finds.

Outside, you can stroll around the various tar pits. Each pit is somewhat unique like an Ice Age time capsule. Two pits are still active fossil digs and excavation sites!

So, what was so special about this tar? Back during the Ice Age, this extremely sticky substance was apparently hidden by leaves and twigs – essentially it was a trap that could even take down a 12-foot-tall (11 ton) Columbian mammoth. Being trapped in this tar for thousands of years created and preserved these fossils. You can see one of the tar pits (pit 9) that alone trapped 27 individual Columbian mammoths.

The Observation Pit is extremely interesting and allows you to descend into a pit and actually see the fossil “pile-up” of various animals that got stuck in over thousands of years. Some of the animals included ancient bison, saber-toothed cats, mastodons, and dire wolves to name a few (yes they aren’t just Game Of Throne animals but were once real).

After you finish viewing the outside, you may head into the museum. What fascinated me was learning about these extinct animals that once roamed Los Angeles and are cousins to animals around today. For instance, did you know there was once an American lion in Los Angeles? Skeletons found at the Tar Pits revealed that the animal’s mass could reach 900 pounds and was closely related to modern lions (I’m glad those aren’t roaming around anymore).

Apparently, dire wolves and saber-toothed cats were not the best of friends and would often battle each other if they crossed each others paths (I’d put my money on the dire wolf). Dire wolves are also closely related to the modern timber wolves. Because of the fossils found here of dire wolves, evidence shows that, like timber wolves today, they had a social structure that allowed the weaker members to survive even when they were unable to hunt for themselves!

More about the California saber-tooth cat: the fossil skull here is real but not the teeth – they are made of wood as the actual teeth were fragile and broke easily. However, they’ve learned through looking at these fossils that the cats did NOT actually use their teeth to kill their prey! They were so strong on their own that they just used their forelimbs to hunt and kill prey, including the Ice Age Bear that also roamed this area.

You will also see animals that are around today but were substantially larger. The California Condor exists now in limited areas in Southern California but is much smaller than its ancestor – thanks goodness. The ancestors were huge and could easily swoop down and snatch up a human!

And do you know the difference between a mammoth and a mastodon? Fossils of each were found here and the use of carbon-14 dating was used to determine the age of the bones (remember that term from high school science?). They looked similar but were separated by 25 million years of evolution.

It isn’t even rude (actually encouraged) to peer over scientists and volunteers in the Fossils Lab and watch them work. There are over 100 volunteers in the Fossils Lab who help the scientists clean and catalog the fossils. It was very interesting watching them carefully examine each specimen. Today, there are 23 large wooden crates filled with fossils waiting to be analyzed.

There are young staff members positioned throughout the museum armed with props to help illustrate any further questions you might have. I found those at the dire wolf and saber tooth cat stations particularly helpful.

For those who like the “hands-on” learning approach, there are interactive displays throughout the musuem. One was called “What is it like to be trapped in tar?” I tried it and could see how easily these animals would have been trapped.

After you are done inside the museum, you can rest in one of the large open grassy areas or spend some time inside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art which is literally right next door.

You can learn a lot from just seeing the outside Tar Pits but the museum inside has so much interesting information on these animals that it is definitely worth the fee. Hopefully this gives you another thing to see if you are spending time in Southern California or are a native like me looking for something fun to do!

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