Wonder what it's like to go behind the scenes at La Brea #TarPits? Watch as Kid Scientist Dee gives you a sneak peek of our Insider Tour!
See all available dates and book your tour today: go.nhm.org/tar-pits-tour
Text "CLIMATE DANCE PARTY / APRIL 25, 6PM @ LA BREA TAR PITS / HOSTED BY AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON" with logos for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits & Museum beside imagery of the paperback edition of "What If We Get It Right"?
🌎 Saturday, April 25, join us to celebrate the paperback release of Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s “What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures” at a special after-hours event at the #TarPits!
Tickets and full event details: go.nhm.org/climate-danc...
Artwork for STEAM Family Day featuring a variety of colorful STEAM-related items and specimens.
Visitors at La Brea Tar Pits and Museum enjoying STEAM activities.
Dr. Christine Wilkinson (Assistant Curator, Community Science), Juliana Soto-Patiño (Collections Manager, Ornithology), and Kriss Leftwich (Collections Manager, Mineral Sciences).
We’re just days away from STEAM Family Day at the #TarPits!
Enjoy themed activities, meet STEM pros, visit vendors, and more, including a discussion with #NHMLAC speakers Dr. Christine Wilkinson, Juliana Soto-Patiño, and Kriss Leftwich.
Free with Museum Admission: go.nhm.org/steam-day-2026
Shell of a Mexican rams-horn snail found at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Millipedes found at the La Brea Tar Pits.
🐚 Did you know? Many invertebrate fossils—including more than 20,000 mollusk specimens and over 100,000 arthropods—have been recovered from the #TarPits. These findings, when fully studied, offer information about environmental conditions in the late Pleistocene: go.nhm.org/lbtp-inverte...
Colorful artwork featuring elements of STEAM education with text, "STEAM Family Day".
Saturday, March 21, join us for STEAM Family Day at the #TarPits! Participate in STEAM activities, meet STEM professionals, plus discussions, live music, vendors, and more!
Free with Museum Admission: go.nhm.org/steam-day-2026
Volunteer processing microfossils at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Lizard osteoderm (above) and a Lizard jaw (below).
🤏✨ Small but spectacular!
Fossils of reptiles, amphibians, and fishes aren't easily detected at the #TarPits because they're discovered as microfossils measuring between 1-4 mm in size. Smaller vertebrae recovered on-site is through processing matrix from Pit 91 and Project 23.
A La Brea Tar Pits visitor sorts through real fossils and matrix on-site, donning protective gloves.
Your exclusive backstage pass to the Ice Age is 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦! Go behind the scenes with scientists, sort real fossils, and explore bubbling tar pits up close with newly added #TarPits Insider Tour dates through May: go.nhm.org/tar-pits-tour
Discover Ice Age L.A., on us. We're excited to participate in the SoCal Museums Free-for-All Day Sunday, February 22!
📍 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Will we see you on #FreeMuseumDay? Advance tickets are required for the #TarPits Museum—save your spot today: go.nhm.org/free-for-all...
A portion of the Pit 81 block sliced through, showing numerous fossils, as it might appear if the asphalt matrix were clear.
The Pit 81 block on display at the La Brea Tar Pits.
A photo from the 1914 pit 81 excavation where excavators took a solid block out, boxed it in place, and moved it on a mule-drawn cart.
⛏️ This block of bones was excavated back in 1914 from one of the smallest pits at the #TarPits, Pit 81, and contains numerous fossil bones and shows the amazing density of specimens found in the excavations.
Explore more amazing discoveries at TARPITS.org!
Pygmy Mammoth on display at La Brea Tar Pits.
Lower jaw bone of a pygmy mammoth.
The pygmy mammoth was a separate species from the wooly or Columbian mammoth that adapted to island life. 𝘔𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘴 was the size of a large horse, which was an advantage to their diet and navigation compared to their mainland cousins.
View the pygmy mammoth at La Brea #TarPits!
Dragonflies at Rancho LaBrea.
A Striped Tadpole Snail and Ubiquitous Pea Clam
🪲 About 100 species of insects have been identified from recovered #TarPits fossils. Most of these, particularly bugs and beetles, were aquatic, as a thin layer of water over the asphalt would attract such insects. They would then get stuck in the asphalt while feeding or laying eggs.
Concept rendering of La Brea Tar Pits courtesy of WEISS/MANFREDI.
Concept rendering of La Brea Tar Pits courtesy of WEISS/MANFREDI.
ICYMI 🦣 We're proud to announce the creation of the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research, which will be the scientific and research backbone of the reimagined La Brea #TarPits, bringing Ice Age research and the museum into the future! Learn more: go.nhm.org/reimagine
Nice to see this wonderful, world famous fossil site getting the support it needs to move forward with plans to renovate the campus! #RanchoLaBrea #TarPits #Pleistocene #Fossils #IceAge
As the world's leading authority on this highly specialized method of preparation, Ben is spending time at La Brea #TarPits with Fossil Lab Preparators Connie and Stephany to learn about our asphaltic fossil preparation techniques.
Meet the largest surviving Ice Age predator: the coyote, 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴.
Coyotes survived climate upheaval, changing diets, and the loss of giant prey to become one of L.A.'s most adaptable survivors.
Discover more about these Ice Age predators during your next visit to the #TarPits Museum!
Statue of a small faced bear at Hancock Park.
Guests strolling Hancock park.
Take a step back into #TarPits history in the heart of Hancock Park! Stroll the paths, watch real excavations, and see science in action right in the heart of L.A.
When will you be visiting? Plan ahead at TARPITS.org.
A special guest takes a photo of the Lake Pit Mammoth Family at La Brea Tar Pits with text, "La Brea Tar Pits Insider Tour / Your Backstage Pass to the Ice Age" with the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum logo.
✔️ Enter the Lake Pit
✔️ Selfie with the Columbian mammoth family
✔️ Sort real microfossils
✔️ Support our science
Dig deep into the history and discoveries of La Brea #TarPits with our first-ever official Insider Tour on select dates: go.nhm.org/tar-pits-tour
Did you know Hancock Park is home to plants that echo L.A.’s Ice Age past?
#TarPits scientists have recreated this prehistoric landscape with the Pleistocene Garden, representing the native vegetation of the L.A. Basin 10,000 to 40,000 years ago.
A special guest takes a photo of the Lake Pit Mammoth Family at La Brea Tar Pits with text, "La Brea Tar Pits Insider Tour / Your Backstage Pass to the Ice Age" with the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum logo.
Ever wanted exclusive access to the #TarPits?
Beginning December 20, join an expert guide on select dates for a tour of the site, meet researchers, sort real micro fossils, and fuel crucial research while inspiring the next generation of paleontologists.
Book your tour: go.nhm.org/tar-pits-tour
🦌 Small but speedy! The Dwarf Pronghorn once darted across Ice Age Los Angeles, a tiny relative of today’s pronghorns that called the region home thousands of years ago.
Fossils found at the #TarPits help us uncover how these pint-sized runners thrived in a world of giants.
Introduced donkeys in the wild photographed by Michael Alfuso
Details from the 1988 Mark Hallett mural, “Trapped in Time".
Wild donkeys by iNaturalist user rawcomposition.
🫏 How did donkeys and pumas help resurrect extinct food webs in Death Valley?
Learn how #TarPits research reveals how mountain lions have adapted lost Ice Age predator-prey dynamics, while restoring desert wetlands through preying on wild donkeys: bit.ly/BurroingInto...
Discover how 20,000 years after the ice age’s coldest snap, Los Angeles is still the city of cats through #TarPits research and “Fierce! The Story of Cats”, on view now at @nhm.org.
nhm.org/cats
Giant short-faced bear on display at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Giant short-faced bear on display at the La Brea Tar Pits.
🦴 Meet the short-faced bear, one of the Ice Age’s biggest, baddest predators.
Although only portions of these unique species have been uncovered at the #TarPits, scientists have pieced together the most up-to-date look into the history of this massive Ice Age mammal.
Close-up of a saber-toothed cat fossil mount from La Brea Tar Pits.
Are you familiar with the fiercest Ice Age Angeleno? Beyond their size, evidence from #TarPits research suggests American lions lived up to the name 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘹, which translates to "cruel or frightful panther": go.nhm.org/biggest-cat
Excavation in Pit 91.
Text "During excavation, fossil deposits are discovered with bones from different animals all jumbled together. Hammers and chisels are used for digging hard areas while dental tools are used for working near fossils." on top of an image of a mammoth excavation at LACMA.
An old photo from an excavation in Pit 77.
Text "Dirt (or matrix) is removed from each fossil which contains tiny specimens which are detected later in the Fossil Lab. Each fossil is photographed and recorded in a field notebook. This information follows the bone to the Fossil Lab where it is prepared." on top of an image of a volunteer recording excavation findings in a field notebook.
🦴 Ever wonder how fossils are uncovered from the #TarPits?
Scientists carefully excavate Ice Age remains—bone by bone—from bubbling asphalt seeps right in the heart of L.A.
Experience science in action at TARPITS.org.
A photo of a wild turkey taken by iNaturalist user kylenessen.
An illustrated depiction of M. californica.
🦃 Happy Thanksgiving! Did you know the wild turkey has fossil roots in L.A.? #TarPits researchers uncovered nearly 12,000 bones of a now-extinct turkey species from the Ice Age!
Discover which turkeys walked the same ground we do today: bit.ly/TarPitsTurke...
Did you know 1 in 4 people in L.A. County experiences food insecurity? Beginning November 14, help make a difference this season by donating to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank during your next visit to @nhm.org or #TarPits.
For food assistance, suggested items, and more, visit lafoodbank.org.
The Pit 3 Tree is currently on display as part of Mark Dion's Pacific Standard Time exhibit Excavations, as part of an 'uncovered diorama'. Courtesy of Tyler Hayden.
🌳 If a tree falls in the #TarPits, does it make a sound? A new study reveals how ancient trees from La Brea helped warm the planet during the last ice age by coughing up CO₂: go.nhm.org/fossil-trees
Asphalt bubbles forming in La Brea Tar Pit's Lake Pit.
Excavation in La Brea Tar Pit's Pit 91.
Recreation of a mammoth becoming trapped in “tar" in La Brea Tar Pit's Lake Pit.
Over the last 50,000 years, Ice Age animals, plants, and insects were trapped in sticky asphalt, which preserved them for us to find today.
Learn more about the countless discoveries made at the #TarPits at TARPITS.org
An American scimitar-toothed cat on display at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Fossilized skulls of an American lion, Saber-toothed cat, Scimitar-toothed cat, and a Pleistocene North American Jaguar.
A Fossil of a saber-toothed cat on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles' Fierce! The Story of Cats exhibition.
😸 We're all about 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙨-tory!
This #NationalCatDay, we're celebrating the fiercest felines of the Ice Age—like the mighty saber-toothed cat who once prowled right in the heart of L.A.
Visit the #TarPits to discover more about these ancient predators!
