LA BREA TAR PITS

Description

Essentials about the La Brea Tar Pits in brief

In the neighborhood of La Brea, in the middle of Los Angeles, lies perhaps the most unusual sight of the city, which you would not expect in a mega-city like LA: The La Brea Tar Pits (derived from sp. “la brea” “pitch”). These are a collection of pits of various sizes filled with natural asphalt. By itself, this would not be a sight worth seeing, but the La Brea Tar Pits are one of the richest Pleistocene fossil deposits in the world. To date, a staggering four million fossil specimens of 300 different species of amphibians, reptiles and birds that lived between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago have been excavated here. In the Museum of the Tar Pits you can see, among other things, the skeletons of cougars, lynxes, jaguars and some extinct species, such as the lion-like Smilodon, the giant Short-snouted Bear and the four-meter-high Emperor Mammoth. An absolutely extraordinary experience for young and old.

The finds in the La Brea Tar Pits

The natural asphalt of the La Brea Tar Pits comes from large underground deposits in the Los Angeles Basin. It was used by the first European settlers in the area for fuel and waterproofing. At the time, fossils found during asphalt mining were mistaken for the bones of domestic cattle that had died in accidents.

Today, we know better. The fossils found in the Tar Pits belong to about 300 different animal species. About 100 of these are vertebrates, including about 60 mammalian species. The most common species found is the now extinct dog species Canis dirus. The second most commonly found species, but probably the best known, is the saber-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis, the state fossil of California. Estimates suggest that at least 2,500 saber-toothed cats died in the asphalt pits over a period of 25,000 years. In addition to the lion-sized Smilodon, bones of other large cats such as American lions, cougars, bobcats, and jaguars have been found in the Tar Pits. A particularly large and unusual predator of the La Brea Pits is the giant Short-snouted Bear.

The very high proportion of large predatory mammals among the fossils found in the La Brea Tar Pits is explained by the fact that the asphalt pits acted as natural predator traps. Smell or calls of animals trapped in the asphalt attracted predators, which then became stuck themselves. Frequently, the extinct Bison antiquus may have been an involuntary decoy. It represents the most common large herbivore, with remains of at least 300 individuals estimated. Other large herbivorous mammals in the La Brea fauna include mammoths and the giant sloth Paramylodon harlani, up to 1.8 meters long.

The museum of the La Brea Tar Pits

A great selection of skeletons of found fossils can be seen in the attached George C. Page Museum. A special attraction of the museum is the so-called “fishbowl” – the paleontological laboratory. Here, museum visitors can look over the shoulders of scientists and volunteers as they work. In the lab, fossils are cleaned and prepared. Some employees devote themselves to a very time-consuming process, sorting microfossils with the aid of a magnifying glass.

Another highlight of the La Brea Tar Pits is Pit 91, currently the museum’s only active excavation site. During the summer months, visitors can watch the excavation work from an observation platform.