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Fossils

Exhibitions

Scanning Electron Microscope Lab

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

Exhibition | NHM
Dinosaur Hall

Step Into Our Award-winning Exhibition, and Enter the Age of Dinosaurs

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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NHMLAC Discovery Talk with Keegan Melstrom

Join Dr. Keegan Melstrom as he explores his postdoctoral research of the dizzying array of Mesozoic teeth shapes, how they help reconstruct the lifestyles of extinct animals, and how the data is used to better understand how ecosystems change through time.

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DIY Paleoart

How do we know what a saber-toothed cat looked like? Short answer? We don’t! Here at La Brea Tar Pits, we only find the bones of ancient animals, so we have to get creative to visualize it.

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News & Press

La Brea Tar Pits Researchers Identify a Mysterious Fossil Seed to Reveal New Chapters in L.A.’s Climate History

Through advanced microscopy and imaging techniques, La Brea Tar Pits scientists successfully identify a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance between two species of juniper with lessons for the region’s climate future

New Bird Species from the Age of Dinosaurs Fills in the Gaps of Bird Brain Evolution

The exceptionally rare fossil skull of a new bird species from the Age of Dinosaurs reveals that avian skulls achieved their recognizably modern shape using archaic structures—an unexpected but stunning example of parallel evolution—while also unearthing a missing link in the long evolutionary history of the bird brain.  
 

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s New Wing NHM Commons Will Open on November 17, 2024

NHM Commons will open with a Celebratory Block Party and New Exhibitions, Programs, and Experiences

Ammonites went out with a diverse bang—and not a long, slow fizzle—in the Late Cretaceous

A new study used museum collections to map ammonite diversity around the globe before their total extinction and found they were not in decline prior to their extinction alongside non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago