Lets get one thing clear, its NOT about dinosaurs. To qualify as a dinosaur you have to be at least 65 million years old and the fossils they keep digging out at La Brea are 'only' about 10 000 - 40 000 years old, which means they are from the Ice Age. Anyway its old enough for us mere mortals to get excited about. This place is like a sweet shop for archeologists, and all because of the sticky substance asphalt. It would seep out from the ground and get sticky in warmer seasons, then say a mammoth, happily unaware, would step into it and end up super-glued to the ground. Silly mammoth!
Then some hungry sabercats could've seen a free meal, and got stuck too. Aw, silly Saber cats.
Then maybe a vulture couldn't believe his luck.. before he also got stuck.
So the story goes on and so far they have found over 1 million bones, someone's been busy.
A reappearing animal is the 'Dire Wolf', in fact they keep digging up so many that they have a whole wall displaying about 400 wolf skulls, and there are even more on storage according to our guide. (I can almost hear the disappointment of the digging team - "Aw, jeez, another wolf!")
They have found a mammoth though, with close to all bones intact; Zed. ("Zed's dead?")
He is the pride and glory of the place, and will take centre stage once he's had his makeover.
The square building is burrowed in a hill, so when walking around at the top, you can look down into the lushious mini jungle that is at the core of the museum. What prehistoric amphibians were those Jurassic Park style plants hiding? Some colourful salamanders perhaps? Poisonous frogs? Upon entering the secret garden I saw a lot of trees.. and this little dude chilling by the pool with his mates.
Not quite what I had expected, but never mind. Lets not take it out on the turtle. Its not his fault he's not a brightly colored and poisonous piece of eye candy. The museum was looking a little tired around the edges, but quite charming in an old kind of way. Like a nice grandma perhaps. And had I been twentythree years younger or had offspring of my own, I probably would have spent the rest of the day there. I felt a bit guilty, but equally pleased about touring the museum on the day you get in for free.
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| Isn't anyone going to help that poor bear/anteater/thingy?? |
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| I think he just dropped it on his foot.. OK maybe I should stop commenting now |
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| Sabertoothed cat. Sabertoothed CAT!! |
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| You can watch some live rarities too, the volunteers and staff of 'Project 23' in the Paleontology Laboratory, examining their findings from the archeological site. |
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| The mammoth Zed's skull in a plaster cast. Apparently this is the most effective way to preserve the bone until they can clean it up properly. |
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