Stories

Welcome to Stories, a place to explore—and be inspired by—the wonder of our natural and cultural worlds.

Extinction and Survival at La Brea Tar Pits

Groundbreaking new research from La Brea Tar Pits curators finds that in California, 13,000 years ago, huge Ice Age mammals that had roamed the landscape for many millennia, suddenly ceased to exist. The cause? Humans, catastrophic fires, and an ecosystem made vulnerable by climate change.

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Wildfire Smoke and Birds

A Q&A with Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot, Director of Project Phoenix

Life reconstruction of fire at La Brea Tar Pits during the Pleistocene as bison are stuck during a wildfire

Why Did the Ice Age Titans Go Extinct?

A new study reveals that human impacts in an environment made fire-prone by climate change and herbivore loss led to large mammals vanishing from southern California.

Research and Collections

Jurassic Perks

How Jurassic Park helped spark a boom in new dinosaur discoveries

Hamlin with Guy Irwin, 1907 Riding in a Franklin Automobile

Start Your Engines

Cruise through automobile history in a behind-the-scenes look at our vintage image collection of L.A.’s early driving scene.

Naturalist

How Our Museum Grows

A unique and transformative museum mentorship program about biodiversity begins

Nature in L.A.

Know Your Compost

The how and why of composting

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Imagination Collaboration

CoachArt Kids and NHM's Performing Artists team up for dino-mite workshops.

Green returning to the Angeles National Forest in Southern California six months after the Station Fire.

Where There's Smoke

A look at what we know and don't know about how growing wildfires impact our natural world, and how we can learn to cope

A Tapestry of Heroes: The 3D Life of Alli Norman

Alli Norman | Just Play Toys

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