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!

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

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

Photo of a dire wolf bone being cleaned at

Members Q&A with LBTP Lab Manager Stephany Potze and Assistant Curator Dr. Regan Dunn

Asphalt is dirty business, but scientists at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum have spent over 100 years learning how to excavate, clean and conserve the multitude of fossil specimens plucked from the tar at Hancock Park.

Members Q&A with Dr. Nathan Smith

You're in for a T-rrific time in this Members Q&A with Dr. Nathan Smith, NHMLAC's Associate Curator of Dino Institute.

Dino Fest Resources Guide

Dino Fest 2023 art featuring Coelophysis

Dino Fest Resources Guide

NHMLAC Discovery Talk with Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe

Join Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe as he explores the migration of vertebrate fauna to the Caribbean Islands and the effects of climate change on his field work.

News & Press

A Lighthouse in the Gobi Desert

A new study quantifies the impact of the world’s great fossil sites on our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups and discovers the key to understanding lizard evolutionary history in the Gobi Desert.

Paleoecologists, paleontologists, and geologists — including many from NHM’s Dinosaur Institute — found that significant loss of animal life in terrestrial ecosystems more easily leads to collapse than in marine ecosystems, and those ensuing collapses last much longer on land.

Diverse Fossils From Iconic Site Tell Story of how Saber-Toothed Cats, Dire Wolves, and Other Megafauna That Once Roamed the Los Angeles Basin Disappeared