Le Brea Tarpits

Le Brea Tarpits: Learn what Los Angeles was like between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago when animals such as saber-toothed tigers and mammoths roamed the area, only to become trapped in the asphalt deposits that bubble to the surface in Hancock Park. Excavation of the pits started in 1908. Located amongst the rolling lawns each fenced excavation provides details of the prehistoric animals that were found there. Visit in summer and you can see the excavation of Pit 91 in action, watching paleontologists wrestle remains from the sticky tar. Most of the fossils are displayed in the adjacent Page Museum where you can watch recent finds being classified and examined. Of special interest is a tank that recreates how animals became stuck in the sticky La Brea asphalt, frantically trying to escape from an oily grave. Visitors can even touch a massive leg bone of an extinct giant ground sloth. 5801 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, 323-934-7243, www.tarpits.org.