La Brea Tar Pits: a piece of the Ice Age in Los Angeles

Los Angeles is frequently associated with Hollywood, great weather, and beautiful beaches.

What about the Ice Age? Does anybody think about that right away when Los Angeles is mentioned? Maybe a few do, but I’m not one of them 😛

Although LA is widely known as one of the densest cities in the United States, it is also famous for the La Brea Tar Pits, a gold mine for fossils from the Pleistocene Epoch, when the Ice Age took place.

La Brea Tar Pits

Harlan’s ground sloth

Columbian Mammoth

Naegele’s giant jaguar

Saber-toothed cats

The La Brea Tar Pits & Museum provides a wealth of information about the types of animals that lived in Rancho La Brea, the area now known as the La Brea Tar Pits. It’s free to walk around the area where the pits are located, along with information boards. However, entrance to the museum costs up to $12. (Those who are members of the Natural History Museum receive free admission to the Tar Pits Museum.)

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Although there’s a lot of free information outside, there are many fascinating exhibits and things to check out inside, including:

skeletons of coyotes, a ground sloth, and the Columbian mammoth
a fossil lab where you can observe paleontologists prepare fossils
a 3-D theater that showcases Ice Age mammals (at an additional cost)
an atrium in the center of the museum (a perfect place to take a break if you get a little tired from walking around inside)
– Ice Age Encounters (a multimedia performance that uses a puppet and film projections to bring the past to life)

Simulation of what it’s like to get stuck in tar. It’s a sticky mess you don’t want to get into!

Watch paleontologists live in action inside the La Brea Tar Pits Museum.

The atrium is a peaceful place in the center of the museum.

Small waterfall inside the atrium at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. There are koi fish here, too!

Pit outside

Outside the museum, you can walk around and check out the pits for free.

Outside the La Brea Tar Pits museum.

Here are some facts about the Tar Pits Museum:

Over 1 million Ice Age fossils have been recovered from Rancho La Brea
The museum has a collection of more than 3.5 million fossils
The oldest fossil from the area is wood (55,000 years old) and a coyote (46,800 years old)
The top three most common large mammals found in the area are dire wolves (about 4,000), saber-toothed cats (2,000) and coyotes, respectively.
Excavations continue at Rancho La Brea, with focus on Project 23, which could double the size of the museum’s collection