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Megafauna
Megafauna
California's state fossil!
What is the saber-toothed cat?
This proboscidean was a browser (eating branches and leaves), not a grazer (eating grasses) like the Columbian mammoth.
What is a mastodon?
This common canine has been in Los Angeles for thousands of years - its only change was getting smaller.
What is a coyote?
It's not a tar pit, it's...
What is an asphalt seep?
Animals everyone wants to see, but no, we don't have any of these.
What are dinosaurs?
How tall a Harlan's ground sloth can get.
What is 8 feet?
The wingspan of a teratorn.
What is 12 feet?
This is where we now find most of the plants (like juniper pine) that were present in Hancock Park during the Ice Age.
What is at higher elevations?
The depth of a typical active seep.
What is only a few inches?
Another name for poop fossils!
What is coprolite?
How wide a saber-toothed cat can open its mouth (in degrees).
What is 120 degrees?
A short-faced bear (with regards to eating habits) is ____vorous.
What is omni(vorous)?
By looking at living specimens, we can determine temperature, types of plants in the area, and humidity using this kind of organism's shiny, black fossils.
What are BUGS?
Unicellular organisms that make up asphalt.
What are diatoms?
Laura Tewksbury out at Project 23 was so excited about this subtle feature of the trailer that helps us show students where to sit.
What is the blue river?
The amount of estimated dire wolves (not fossils, but individuals) that we have found so far in the pits.
The American lion used to be referred to using this name.
What is the giant jaguar? (bonus points for Naegele's giant jaguar)
Out of 140 species of bird found at Rancho La Brea, only this many of them have gone extinct.
What is 20?
Stinky! The gas that is responsible for the tar's smell.
What is hydrogen sulfide? (Methane is odorless!)
The amount of replica fossils the dire wolf and the saber-toothed cat have.
What is 12 for the dire wolf and 14 for the saber-toothed cat?
They did NOT bring dire wolves back! This is the age of the "youngest" aka last true Aenocyon dirus fossil.
What is 13,082 years?
When camels crossed the Isthmus of Panama, eventually evolving into llamas.
What is 3 million years ago?
The percentage of species found in fossil form at Rancho La Brea that are extant.
What is 92%?
How deep under Los Angeles the Salt Lake Oil Field sits (range in feet).
What is 1,000-3,000 feet?
Six stuffies that make noise.
What are the coyote, meadowlark, quail, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl, and Canada goose?