Image of the Week: August 8 - 14, 2004

The La Brea Tar Pits

This natural petroleum seep in the Los Angeles basin of southern California has trapped animals and preserved their remains
(and those of plants) for several tens of thousands of years.
The sculptures of a mammoth family in the image above give some idea of how animals were entrapped.
In the background is the George C. Page Museum
where many of the fossils are on display.
This is one of the world's largest collections of Pleistocene fossils.

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