Lessons From The Tar Pits

One of the literally ancient tourists traps in LA is the La Brea Tar Pits. I should really say the tar pits have trapped a lot of tourists over the past 40.000 years or so. The tar pits are a series of small lakes where naturally occurring asphalt, tar, and methane bubble to the surface. The water is a mess of oil slicks and tarry debris while the floor is coated with a thick layer of tarry goo. If it were a candy bar it would be a dentist's dream.

Instead, the tar pits are a paleontologist's dream. Over the course of the past 40,000 years animals, and a few humans, have walked into the tar pits in search of water or prey, only to become mired in the goo where they eventually became entombed. Talk about getting stuck in LA.

We took Ev there the other morning as the area now includes a museum where a number of complete skeletons of Ice Age creatures have been recovered and reassembled. It's a great little museum and worth a stop; especially considering the LA County Museum of Art shares the same campus. Looking at the collection is amazing, though, considering the volume of animals that have met their death on the property and the work that has gone on at the site since around 1910 in an effort to recover those fossils-- all so well preserved in their thick petroleum-based coating.

The most important feature of the site comes from the lessons to be learned from the tar pits and their hapless victims. More than lessons about geology, climate, and zoology, the best lessons are those to be gained in the social sciences-- psychology and sociology. Certainly the best lessons Evan could learn from the tar pits are these:
   
    1. Things are not always what they seem. Never ignore the warning signs: If you smell sulfur and see oil slicks and giant gas bubbles rolling to the surface, it's probably not a good place to take drink even if you are thirsty.

    2. Even if everyone else is doing it, it doesn't mean you should. Assess the situation and make the smart decision. They have recovered thousands of primitive wolf skulls. Obviously a species of slow learners.

    3. Don't let others drag you into their problems. Sometimes they can't be helped. Some situations, often of their own creating, are so involved, so engulfing, that you will only get dragged-in to your own demise.

    4. Don't take advantage of others' misfortune. Their plight might just as easily become your own. There have been more than a few skeletons recovered that indicate a predator became entrapped while trying to attack or feed on a creature already trapped in the tar.

    5. And finally, considering the plight of the Mastadon trapped in the re-creation above: Just because you're big/smart/fast/clever/whatever doesn't mean you can't become a victim.

Drop by if you visit LA. Just don't get stuck. The traffic on Wilshire is killer.