The tar pits in Los Angeles were created when tar or asphalt (la brea in Spanish) seeped up through the ground over thousands of years. Water often covered the tar, attracting wildlife. Over the years, the bones of thousands of animals have sunk into the tar and have been preserved. Rancho La Brea is the museum currently located at the tar pits:
"Rancho La Brea is recognized as having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age animals and plants in the world. Visitors can learn how Los Angeles was between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, when sabertoothed cats and woolly mammoths roamed the Los Angeles Basin. Through windows at the Page Museum Laboratory, visitors can watch bones being cleaned and repaired. Outside the museum, in Hancock Park, several life-sized replicas of extinct mammals are featured."
At the museum: "Discover how mammoths grew their teeth."
"View the only known sabertoothed cat to be discovered with its mouth closed."
"Get a glimpse of a natural dire wolf 'brain cast' made of asphalt." (see http://www.tarpits.org/)
Wow! Just got a chance to read this now, and that's fascinating! So your poor little mammoth got stuck in one of these? Or he carefully avoided them? They sound really interesting, I can't wait to hear about your visit!
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