SELF GUIDED FIELD TRIP
PAGE MUSEUM
at the LA BREA TAR PITS
Name
_____________________________________________
Ticket # _________
The Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits is located at 5801 Wilshire Blvd. There is ample parking in the neighborhood as this is the location of the Los Angeles County Art Museum as well. There is a special lot for Page Museum visitors at the back of the Museum, off Carson Ave. In this lot parking with $8.00 without and $6.00 with a Museum validation. Admission is $3.50 for students with ID and aged 62 +. Adults are $6.00 and children between 5 and 12 are $2.00. Information may be obtained at their web site or at (323) 934-PAGE.
As
you enter the museum, you will find a large mural on your left.
1.
Describe the ecology displayed on that mural.
2.
Were most of the animals seen, the mammals, local or migratory?
Base this on your knowledge of modern forms.
3.
Around the corner you will find a hands-on demonstration of the power of
tar to hold. There are two different sized cylinders that you are to pull
out of the tar, or push in. Which
size offers the most resistance to movement?
Do
you think that a thick legged animal, such as a mammoth, or a thin legged
animal, such as a wolf, would be more easily entrapped in the tar?
4.
On your left is a mounted skeleton of Harlan’s Ground Sloth. The
bones are black. You will notice as
you go through the museum that all of the bones, except teeth, are black.
Why?
5.
What is the scientific name of this organism?
6.
Just beyond the sloth is a tapestry on the wall.
Note the portion that explains the teeth of the mammoth and the mastodon.
How do they differ? What
does that tell us about their feeding?
7.
Next we come upon the skeleton of a bison.
What is its common and its scientific name?
8.
At the La Brea Tar Pits, some 300 individual bison have been found.
The ages of these specimens cluster at 2 to 4 months old, 14 to 16 months
old and 26 to 28 months old. What
does this suggest to you about when they were here?
Remember that modern bison are migratory and have calves in early spring.
9.
There is a large display case along the outside wall.
In this display case are a number of skulls and limb bones.
How
many canine teeth did the Smilidon have? How
many molars? How many incisors?
List
four herbivores shown in this case, giving both common and scientific names.
List
four carnivores shown in this case, giving both common and scientific names.
Find
the insects that have been found here. Can
you identify any as to their common names?
Find
the bones that show disease or injury. What
do they show?
List
the aquatic organisms found.
10.
Find the case with La Brea Woman in it.
If it is working you will see a reproduction of what she may have looked
like and then the skeletal remains will show in the background.
How
old was she when she died?
Where
were her remains found?
When
was she discovered?
How
tall was she?
How
do we know that this was a woman?
Was
she buried ceremonially or was her body just tossed in the asphalt?
Did her people use the tar pits?
How do we know this?
11.
Describe the differences you note between the Mastodon and the Mammoth.
12.
In the back gallery of the museum are several cases and several skeletons
attached to the ceiling. One such
skeleton is of a condor. What bones
make up its wing?
How
many bones does it have in the lower limb?
Remember that we have two.
Have
you seen this condition in any modern animal?
13.
Past the viewing arena where fossil are picked from the washed debris is
an exhibit about radiocarbon dating. Which
carbon isotope is used in this dating?
Where
does this isotope come from?
How
does it get into living organisms?
14.
Nearing the end of the museum we come upon a question.
Why did the mega fauna of the Pleistocene go extinct?
15.
Along the time wall, what animals were around at 38,000 years ago?
When
did Homo sapiens arrive in the new world?
Who
were they?
Which
animals became extinct around 12,000 years ago?
Around
10,000 years ago?
16.
Find the “Time Ribbon of Life” mural.
This depicts seven “times”. Characterize
each of them and relate them to the geologic time scale that you will find in
the museum or that you remember from class.
17.
Near the time wall is a kiosk with information and questions.
One of the questions deals with methane.
What is it and where does it come from?
Another
question deals with two paintings of the area during the Pleistocene.
You are asked to guess which is the most accurate.
Which is, the upper or the lower painting? What differences does it show?
How do you think that we have come to that conclusion?
After
you are through in the Museum you may walk around the grounds.
Notice the fenced in areas. These
are areas where asphalt is bubbling up to the surface.
Some will have bubbles on the surface or you may even see bubbles form
and then burst. What is in these
bubbles?
Find
Pit 91 and describe it.