Discoveries

Exhibitions

Two saber-toothed cats eating and standing on top of a zebra lying on the ground

Follow the Fossil: Unearthing Ice Age Mysteries

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Fossil Lab

What happens after the fossils at La Brea Tar Pits are excavated? This is where you find out.

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3D Theater

Travel back in time with Titans of the Ice Age.

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Events

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Wed

27

Sep

Photo of paleontologist excavating fossils

Excavator Tour

Tours & Shows All Ages

1 pm

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen.

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Wed

27

Sep

A man holds a saber-toothed cat skull with jaw agape, a father and son observe excitedly

Discoveries From the Tar Pits

Talks All Ages

3:30 pm

Drop by to learn some of the lesser known stories of the Tar Pits, including active research and recent discoveries. Topics change daily.

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Thu

28

Sep

Excavator Tour

Tours & Shows All Ages

1 pm

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen.

Learn more

Thu

28

Sep

Discoveries From the Tar Pits

Talks All Ages

3:30 pm

Drop by to learn some of the lesser known stories of the Tar Pits, including active research and recent discoveries. Topics change daily.

Learn more

Fri

29

Sep

Excavator Tour

Tours & Shows All Ages

1 pm

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen.

Learn more

Stories

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.

Jurassic Perks

How Jurassic Park helped spark a boom in new dinosaur discoveries

Green returning to the Angeles National Forest in Southern California six months after the Station Fire.

Where There's Smoke

A look at what we know and don't know about how growing wildfires impact our natural world, and how we can learn to cope

Playing With Fire: Extinction and Survival at La Brea Tar Pits

In California, 13,000 years ago, huge Ice Age mammals that had roamed the landscape for many millennia, suddenly ceased to exist. The cause? Humans, catastrophic fires, and an ecosystem made vulnerable by climate change.