fossil preparators excavation pit 91 la brea tar pits

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Stories about Discoveries

family kids interacting mammoths and mastodons exhibit la brea tar pits

Two Stops One Ice Age

Many thousands of years ago, a six-year-old mammoth had a bad day.

These little anemones were collected and photographed live, but have not yet been identified. Anemones are related to corals and jellies (also known as jellyfish, from back when anything in the ocean was a “fish”). Anemones look so peaceful with their saying tentacles, but they use those to sting animals that pass by so they can paralyze them and eat them.

Tiny Marine Marvels

DISCO collects specimens down by the docks

blue belly lizard

Research and Collections

What to Wear When Lizard Watching

Choose your outfit carefully before you go on a nature walk.

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