La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum

Our next stop was the La Brea Tar pits and the Page Museum. We read and watched movies about the history of the Los Angeles area, Rancho La Brea and the Hancock Family. We looked at some of the Earth's richest and most important Ice Age fossil collection, with more than 30 complete skeletons of fossil mammals and birds. At Rancho La Brea the crude oil seeped from the ground forming pools of asphalt in low lying areas. In the warmer seasons the asphalt turned softer and stickier, and leaves, dirt and water covered its surface. Wandering animals or those in search of water walked onto the camouflaged asphalt and became trapped. They cried out and became easy prey for predators and scavengers who in turn also became stuck. Through the windows of the Fish Bowl laboratory we watched scientists clean, examine, restore and catalog the fossils that are still being excavated from the asphalt.