La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, California, USA

October 23, 2022

In the center of Los Angeles, next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) are the La Brea Tar Pits, an active paleontological research site. Over many centuries, animals ventured into the pits and became stuck and their bones have been preserved. There is now a museum on the site displaying a sample of the over 750,000 specimens that have been discovered there. Among the prehistoric species found at the Pits are mammoths, dire wolves, giant sloths and saber-toothed cats.

The scientists are still uncovering, preserving and studying bones.

Here is the skeleton of a Harlan’s ground sloth.

And here is what it would look like if it was still roaming about today.