A new experience of wonder, discovery, and revelation

The Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research will be a world-class research center. La Brea Tar Pits will continue to offer unique educational experiences and be a bucket-list travel destination. The entire collection will come to life through exhibits, active excavations, and labs that unleash the fun and mystery of scientific discovery.

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Visible labs enable a thematic connection between exhibit material and the process of research.

The Fossil Sorting Station allows visitors to virtually remove tar from a newly excavated femur before choosing to either sort microfossils from the residual matrix or put the broken femur back together.

The key message of the Endling Fossils is that the megafauna extinctions had profound consequences for ecosystems, both locally and globally. When visitors exit the theater, they leave the megafauna behind.

The Science Education Hall provides a dynamic in-gallery experience for visitors, featuring interactive exhibits, designed to inspire the inner scientist in our visitors.

Fossils from a wide taxonomic array indicate this site was a gathering place for species of all shapes and sizes. This stream sustains all kinds of life at La Brea: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and plant material.

The dire wolf, abundantly represented in the fossil record at La Brea Tar Pits, captures the imagination of visitors while providing a vivid entry point into deeper conversations about extinction, adaptation, and environmental change.

Understanding these changes can help us protect the Earth’s biodiversity amid human-driven climate change today.