camped inside of the George C. Page Museum right next to a Wooly Mammoth!
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| Setting up our sleeping space next to the Wooly Mammoth |
The La Brea Tar Pits are located right in the middle of Los Angeles, surrounded by big buildings
and busy streets. It is a very smelly, but fun place. The smell comes from a gas called methane gas. We saw it bubble up in the tar and it's actually passed by living, oil eating bacteria.
'La Brea" means 'The Tar' in Spanish, so the name really means: the The tar Tar Pits. :0)
Tar (or Aspalt) is made of oil and has been seeping up from the ground for ten thousands of years. It has trapped thousand of animals. The pits were camouflaged with dust, leaves or water.
Imagine a plant eater looking for food getting trapped in the sticky tar. Calling for help it would attract
hungry predators like saber toothed cats or a pack of dire wolves, who ended up stuck too. Even birds, trying to feed on caucuses could not fly out and died along with the other animals.
All the bones from trapped animals were preserved by the tar and covered up by more dirt and tar. This happened again and again over the years. Over 5 million bones have been found up so far!
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| Tar pit with bones stuck in rock, surrounded by water and tar |
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| Saber toothed cat (above) and dire wolf skulls (below) |
The bone fossils are stuck in a hard, rocky material called 'matrix'.
Our troop examined and sorted out matrix dust to find micro (small) fossils. We found bone fragments (little splinters), wood and if you were lucky, you found little shell piecees!
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| Examining and sorting micro fossils |
We also put together a sabertooth cat bone puzzle. We looked at a real skeleton to find out where the bones belonged. I had a rib bone to match.
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| Saber toothed cat rib bone |
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| Matching bones |
Our museum sleepover was a blast and I hope that I can come back soon!
Have you ever been to the La Brea Tar Pits?
If so, what is your favorite thing to look at?
Have you ever been to the La Brea Tar Pits?
If so, what is your favorite thing to look at?
Dear Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI love this post! Yes, I have been to the La Brea Tar Pits! I was about five when I went, and I was very terrified to fall in to the tar. : ) I have never ever slept over in a museum, but I think that it would be awfully fun! I really love your blog! What was your favorite part of your trip?
Love,
Sasha♥
Dear Sasha,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your wonderful comment. My favorite a part about our trip was sorting micro fossils. I found LOTS of micro plants!
I don't think you would fall into the tar pits, because they have gates around the all of them. If you slept over at a museum what would you want to do first?
Love,
⚔Kelly♥
Dear Kelly, I'm very happy that you posted about The La Brea Tar Pits. Our girl scout troop was so lucky to go. Im glad that you and I got to go. I liked the Saber Tooth tiger.
ReplyDeleteLove, Alexis
Dear Alexis,
DeleteThank you for your post! I loved going with you too and my favorite thing to do was sorting the micro fossils. My mom's favorite was the saber tooth tiger too and she took LOTS of pictures!
Love,
Kelly
Dear Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your trip to the museum. I used to go there a lot when I was your age, but I have never slept there. Was it scary sleeping with all the large animal replicas?
My favorite part of the museum was the tar pits outside. I remember looking out at the pits (holding my nose) and wondering how all the huge dinosaurs became extinct. I also always kind of felt sorry for them as well.
After reading your post, I will definitely make it a point to go back for a visit. It seems like there are many new things on exhibit.
Best
Victoria
Dear Victoria,
DeleteThank you so much for your post.
It was not scary at all to sleep in the museum! We had so much fun and it just felt like a giant sleepover.
You are so sweet feeling sorry for the animals!
I hope you go back soon, it is
a beautiful place.
Love,
Kelly