La Brea Tar Pits

My first look at the tar pits
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The Tar Pits were a lot less bubbly then i had assumed they would be. Next to the main pit (it's more of a lake with bubbling asphalt) is the Page Museum. George C. Page is the founder of this museum which houses three million items. "Since 1906, more than one million bones have been recovered representing over 231 species of vertebrates. In addition, 159 kinds of plants and 234 kinds of invertebrates have been identified." www.tarpits.org

"Rancho La Brea is one of the world's most famous fossil localities, recgnized for having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world." www.tarpits.org
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The fossils are displayed in the museum in categories of distinct species. The bones have a brown tone to them due to asphalt saturation. Here I learned more about the importance of fossils and how much information one bone can give to paleontologists as well as contribute to geological findings. Pit 91 was the most interesting pat of this leg of the trip. it was here that you saw how the fossils were excavated and learned about which kinds of animals and plants were found. I found the small tools interesting and appreciated that they had color coated flags to show where recent fossils were found.

I always thought that the bubbles in the lake were going to be huge
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I wish the museum had more documentation to give out. the plaques on the gates were repetitive and didn't include much on the geology side of things.