Excavations

Exhibitions

Fossil Lab

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

Learn more

3D Theater

Travel back in time with Titans of the Ice Age.

Learn more

Events

See all events

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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

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

Jurassic Perks

How Jurassic Park helped spark a boom in new dinosaur discoveries

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.

Ailurarctos reconstruction Mauricio Anton

Eating bamboo? It's all in the wrist.

An ancient fossil reveals the earliest panda on an exclusively bamboo diet and the evolutionary history of panda's false thumbs

Research That Rocks

Our breathtaking backyard state park

Before Dinosaurs Got Big

Meet Earth’s first giant—a humongous new species of ichthyosaur—only at NHM!

Earth's First Giant

The two-meter skull of a humongous new ichthyosaur species, Earth’s first known giant creature, reveals how both the extinct marine reptiles and modern whales became giants.

Discover more

Saber-toothed Summer Self-Guided Tour

Smilodon for the camera and capture some purrfect pics on this selfie scavenger hunt. Discover everything there is to know about the fearsome feline with the killer canines only at La Brea Tar Pits.