Somers, age 13, of Chula Vista, Cal
How did the bones get into the La Brea tar pit?
The La Brea tar pit of Los Angeles is a regular Who’s Who of the Ice Age animals Tar acts as a preservative and the hones of countless prehistoric animals are fumbled together and fossilized in wads of this gooey material There are fossil bones of giant lions and tigers wolves and bears, cloths and coyotes, the small ancestors of the modern horse and camel, the massive remains of mammoth elephants, the fangs of the saber‑toothed tiger, One cubic foot of this fossil‑rich tar yielded a fumble of bones from 17 large animals,
When California belonged to Mexico, the famous tar ranch was owned and named by the Spanish Brea is their word for tar or pitch Same $0 years ago, the ranch was owned by a Mayor Hancock who sold the tar for paving material at $80 a ton However, sifting the assortment of strange bones from the tacky tar was a stinky fob requiring hours of labor
The Mayor had a good idea how the bones got into his tar pits For he saw his farm animals trapped almost every week of the year, The tar forms from petroleum which seeps up to the surface where its light gases and other volatile materials evaporate into the air The seeping tar forms a pool, soft and gooey in the center and hardening towards the edges of the overflow Blowing dust sticks to the surface of the tar, making it look like solid ground, and rain forms puddles
The Mayor’s farm animals often mistook the puddles for safe drinking water and ventured out onto the surface of the tar The first few steps on the hardened rim of the tar pool were enough The next few steps would take the thirsty animal unto the soft, tacky tar where he became hopelessly stunk Colts and calves, sheep and hens had to be rescued or perish And the Mayor guessed that this black booby trap had bean catching animals for a long time
He did not guess how long until he learned that a nine‑inch fang came from a saber‑toothed tiger who lived during the Ice Ages, Much later, masses of the bones were sorted and the black record revealed tragedy after tragedy in the animal world, dating back for a hundred million years Most of the bones are from either old or young animals The young were more likely to be fooled, the old less likely to free themselves when trapped Most of the bones were from carnivores, which is rare in a treasure trove of fossils
The great number of meat‑eaters occurred because of the nature of the tar trap, A grass‑eating horse or camel would stumble into the trap and perhaps cry for help as it tried to free itself, His cry attracted, not help, but a horde of hungry carnivores, big cats and coyotes and finally the vultures who also left their skulls and beaks in the stinky tar The meat‑eaters plunged heedlessly into the trap, hoping for an easy meal, and all perished together This tragedy was repeated time after time