Fossils

Exhibitions

Scanning Electron Microscope Lab

See how big discoveries can come from the tiniest things in the Gem and Mineral Hall.

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Ichthyosaur

New Discoveries

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Exhibition | NHM

Dino Fest

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Exhibition | NHM

Dinosaur Hall

Step into our award-winning Jane G. Pisano Dinosaur Hall, and enter the age of dinosaurs.

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Exhibition | LBTP

Fossil Lab

What happens after the fossils at La Brea Tar Pits are excavated? This is where you find out.

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Events

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Child holding on to a sliding magnifying glass over a snakeskin encased in a vitrine

nhm

Kids & Family Youth

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Nocturnal Neighbors

With flashlights and pencils in hand, campers will explore species like bats, owls, coyotes, raccoons, and more. Along the way, campers will study nightlife, meet a live nocturnal animal, and hear from Museum wildlife biologists!

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weekly

through 07/24/26

12:00 am

nhm

Kids & Family Youth

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Nocturnal Neighbors

With flashlights and pencils in hand, campers will explore species like bats, owls, coyotes, raccoons, and more. Along the way, campers will study nightlife, meet a live nocturnal animal, and hear from Museum wildlife biologists!

Learn more

weekly

through 07/24/26

12:00 am

nhm

Kids & Family Youth

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Nocturnal Neighbors

With flashlights and pencils in hand, campers will explore species like bats, owls, coyotes, raccoons, and more. Along the way, campers will study nightlife, meet a live nocturnal animal, and hear from Museum wildlife biologists!

Learn more

weekly

through 07/24/26

12:00 am

nhm

Kids & Family Youth

Adventures in Nature Day Camp: Nocturnal Neighbors

With flashlights and pencils in hand, campers will explore species like bats, owls, coyotes, raccoons, and more. Along the way, campers will study nightlife, meet a live nocturnal animal, and hear from Museum wildlife biologists!

Learn more

weekly

through 07/24/26

12:00 am

Stories

Meet Masripithecus: Newly Described Ancient Ape Fills a Gap in Evolutionary History of Primates

An international team of researchers add a new chapter in the story of apes—including us humans—starting around 18 million years ago in North Africa

An artistic reconstruction of a herd of ancient sea cows foraging on the seafloor.

For Ancient and Modern Seagrass Ecosystems, Having a (Sea)Cow Is Super Important

A new species of extinct dugong from the Persian Gulf highlights sea cows as underwater lawn mowers protecting biodiversity

Fossil tree limb with a fossil bird on top of it framed by demolished wall

Fossil Trees Help Grow Our Understanding of Ancient Climate

A new study reveals how ancient trees from La Brea Tar Pits helped warm the planet during the last ice age by coughing up CO2

Illustration of aquatic sloths chilling by the beach next to some penguins and sea lions during a sun set

Dive Into the Weird Miocene World of Aquatic Sloths

A new paper by an international team of researchers, including NHM's Curator of Marine Mammals, Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe, uncovers more secrets of aquasloths with one of the most complete skeletons ever discovered

A Decade of Discoveries for 10 Years of Dino Fest

To mark 10 years of Dino Fest, we're looking back at 10 of the colossal discoveries by NHM researchers from the Age of Dinosaurs

A life-like painting of a large lizard lurking over a nest of dinosaur eggs with one already in its mouth

A Monster “Goblin” at the Feet of Dinosaurs

Meet the newly discovered giant, armored lizard named for the Hobbit’s goblin prince

Discover more

Saber-toothed Summer Self-Guided Tour

Smilodon for the camera and capture some purrfect pics on this selfie scavenger hunt. Discover everything there is to know about the fearsome feline with the killer canines only at La Brea Tar Pits.

NHMLAC Discovery Talk: L.A.'s Ice Age Animals

Join Connie Clark, La Brea Tar Pits Preparator, as she explores the La Brea Tar Pits Museum Fossil Lab’s work to improve fossil preparation practices, recent finds in Project 23, and why animals found around L.A. today might be rarer in the Tar Pits fossil record.

Video: Happy Hour - Dawn of the Dinosaurs with Dr. Nate Smith

In Dr. Nate Smith's presentation, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, he will guide us through the recent NHMLAC expeditions at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico.

Video: Happy Hour with Cullen Townsend

Find out how ancient creatures and environments are brought to life with Paleo Artist, Cullen Townsend. He'll show us how scientific research is used in his creations, and explain his current project.

Dr. Alyssa Bell working on an excavation site

Members Q&A with Dr. Alyssa Bell

Join Dr. Alyssa Bell on this special Members Q&A for Dino Fest at Home!

News & Press

Press Release | LBTP

La Brea Tar Pits to Launch the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research as a Highlight of Its Major Campus Transformation

A landmark gift from the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation advances the complete reimagining of one of Los Angeles’s most iconic scientific, cultural, and community sites

New renderings from WEISS/MANFREDI reveal updated plans to transform the museum and park on Wilshire Blvd

Exhibition features dozens of incredible gem and mineral specimens, many in their uncut state, as rarely seen by the public

Press Release | NHM

Return of the Short (Tyrant) King: A New Paper by Dinosaur Institute Researcher Shows Nanotyrannus Was Not a Juvenile T. rex

Dinosaur Institute researcher shows throat bones accurately record maturity in dinosaurs, establishing Nanotyrannus was a fully grown, entirely distinct species from T. rex

Discovery of Bolg amondol, a name inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe, reveals the complex evolutionary history of giant Gila Monster relatives

A new study finds that land-dwelling crocodile-like sebecids were the apex predators of the West Indies, surviving on the islands after vanishing from South America