Saber-toothed Cats

Stories

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Digital Guide to La Brea Tar Pits

Our new audio tour lets everyone explore the La Brea Tar Pits' history and research, even while the museum is closed, with Bloomberg Connects' free digital guide.

Smilodon, Saber-Tooths, and Tigers…Oh My!

How Smilodon became saber-toothed tigers—and why they're really saber-toothed cats

Extinction and Survival at La Brea Tar Pits

Groundbreaking new research from La Brea Tar Pits curators finds that 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.

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.

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.

Geek Out in an Ice Age Daydream

Tar AR brings Ice Age animals back to L.A.

Discover more

A researcher in a white lab coat returns a fossil to a shelf in a row of compact shelving

Samuel Oschin Global Center
for Ice Age Research

A New Scientific Research Hub

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.

Camp Croods at La Brea Tar Pits

Join in all the saber-toothed cat-sized excitement as Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment bring you our FREE virtual event, Camp Croods at La Brea Tar Pits.

Offsite Resources

News & Press

La Brea Tar Pits to Launch the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research as a Highlight of Its Major Campus Transformation

A landmark gift from the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation advances the complete reimagining of one of Los Angeles’s most iconic scientific, cultural, and community sites

New renderings from WEISS/MANFREDI reveal updated plans to transform the museum and park on Wilshire Blvd