Los Angeles Vacation 2/25
Ever since I learned it existed, I've wanted to see the La Brea tar pits. That alone was reason to go to Los Angeles. This main lake by the road is actually a pit created by humans 100-150 years ago, digging the tar out because it's a useful substance. Native Americans also dug the tar out to use as an adhesive and water-proofing agent. I had the impression before that the animals would sink in tar over their heads, but that's probably not what happened. According to the information in the Page Museum (the museum associated with the tar pits) a large animal got stuck once a decade or so, and predators would swarm in and feed--getting stuck themselves. Fossilized fly pupae and other insects show that the trapped animals were exposed for some time before their remains sunk into the tar to become the most important record of ice age life known.
Anaerobic bacteria and archaea live in the asphalt and produce methane, which bubbles up through the collected rainwater in the pit.
Inside the museum is a work shop called "the fish bowl," where scientists are on exhibit cleaning and categorizing fossils. This is a bunch of tools used for cleaning tar off of fossils.
Here my brother and father pose with 400 dire wolf skulls. This extinct canine was one of the most frequently fossilized animals in the tar--they must have come in large numbers to feast on the trapped megafauna, only to be trapped themselves. Then the carrion birds arrived.
The scale of the numbers is disturbing.
Outside on the roof, a frieze depicts one of the trapping events, while today's scavengers keep a watchful eye.
Outside on the grounds of the museum I found some California poppies, and lots of honeybees.
Still trying to identify this plant, some kind of agave with a truly massive and bizarre flower spike.
Nearby, tar still bubbles out of the ground--is this what it looked like before the pit was dug? You can see how an animal might accidentally step on this and sink ankle-deep, never to free itself.
For lunch we stopped at Snow White's Cafe! My dad (who goes by "Doc") poses with a portrait of Doc.