Story Topics | La Brea Tar Pits

A woman with short gray hair and glasses next to a model orca

Keiko’s Tooth: A Killer Whale, a Movie Star, and the Hidden Power of Museum Collections

Assistant Mammalogy Collections Manager Amanda Killian on finding the Free Willy star's tooth and the ever-growing value of natural history museum collections

A high school building with the words 'San Pedro Pirates' surrounding an image of a pirate mascot on the building. Signs of construction surround the building

Fossils Under San Pedro High School Reveal a Pleistocene Beach in a Miocene Sea

Discover some of the last fossils and the lasting impact of the bone beds beneath San Pedro High School

Two people pose behind a long counter inside The Ruby Fruit. One wears a green top and dark pants, while the other wears a bright yellow jumpsuit. In the foreground, a lime green graphic banner features the bar's name next to an image of a red cocktail garnished with a dehydrated citrus wheel.

More Than a Bar: Preserving a Sapphic Sanctuary

Mara Herbkersman & Emily Bielagus | The Ruby Fruit

Orcas: Culture Beneath the Surface

Dive into the matriarchal culture of orcas

The Bugs of La Brea Tar Swamp

Meet some of the insects found at La Brea Tar Pits and discover how these microfauna can tell big stories about our climate, past, present, and future

Two mem standing with a colorful drink in hand and in the forefront, again wall with graphic design

The ABC's of Identity

Philip Wang & Eric Wang | BOPOMOFO Cafe

Person on one knee looking at a taxidermy coyote

Research and Collections

From the David Attenborough of Queens to the First-ever Curator of Community Science, Meet Dr. Christine Wilkinson

Explore some of the common misconceptions about coyotes with our new Curator of Community Science

two garden snails, one left-spiraling, one right-spiraling, held in a person's palm

The SNERCH for True Love: A Sinistral Snail Tale

This Snail Search season, be on the lookout for snails with counter-clockwise shells

A small coquÍ frog in some beautiful foliage

Research and Collections

The Songs of the Coquí Frog

The soothing sounds of home or a sonic menace? How you feel about the coquí's call depends on context, but when coquí frogs call in L.A. County, NHM's Herpetology Curator Dr. Greg Pauly answers.

A life-like painting of a large lizard lurking over a nest of dinosaur eggs with one already in its mouth

2025 Excavated: A Look Back at Some of the Biggest NHM Discoveries

From prehistoric giant lizards and ancient raccoons to newly discovered spiders and heroic extinct dugongs, NHMLAC researchers had a busy year describing new species. Meet some of the coolest creatures our researchers described this year, along with other inspiring discoveries.