The lower jaw of a dire wolf from La Brea Tar PIts resting on a piece of paper with the words "Last known real dirw wolf in the world!!" Aenocyon dirus lower jaw 13,082 years old' written on it
Dire Wolves: Sorry, They’re Totally Still Extinct
NHM and Tar Pits experts weigh in on why dire wolves have not, in fact, been successfully cloned, and the surprising perils of de-extinction
Read more
Bloomberg Connects Header Image depicting the screen of a guide user
Digital Guide to La Brea Tar Pits
Explore La Brea Tar Pits—including the new Mark Dion exhibit Excavations—as well as over 160 international museums, galleries, sculpture parks, gardens, and cultural spaces on our Bloomberg Connects free digital guide.
Read more
Life reconstruction of fire at La Brea Tar Pits during the Pleistocene as bison are stuck during a wildfire
Why Did the Ice Age Titans Go Extinct?
A new study reveals that human impacts in an environment made fire-prone by climate change and herbivore loss led to large mammals vanishing from southern California.
Read more
Digital mastadon at the Tar Pits
Geek Out in an Ice Age Daydream
Tar AR brings Ice Age animals back to L.A.
Read more
Mammoth Pixel image flipped
Mammoths, meet the metaverse
Paleontologists from La Brea Tar Pits develop a whole herd of scientifically accurate extinct animals to use in AR and VR
Read more
Sabertooth cat skeleton and notecard with field notes
Get Sedimental With La Brea Tar Pits
Help transcribe 'dig' field notes for fossils excavated since 1969
Read more
Dire wolf display
Our Evolving Understanding of Dire Wolves
Dire? Yes. Wolves? Not so much.
Read more
Dire wolf wall of skulls at an angle
Dire Wolf Skull Wall Reinstall
3,600 individual dire wolves recovered, 400 skulls, one iconic La Brea Tar Pits installation refurbished
Watch Video
Photo of jaw bones from La Brea tar pits
Research and Collections
Stories of Extinction and Survival
Solving the mysteries of the Tar Pits
Read more
A few of the six-million-year-old coprolites (fossilized feces) of extinct bone-crushing dogs; the one on the right has visible bits of bone sticking out. (Ouch.)
Research and Collections
The Proof Is in the Pooping
Fossilized feces help confirm the diet of extinct “bone-crushing” dogs
Read more