https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/tar-pits/ Recent content in Tar Pits on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Thu, 15 Feb 2018 14:35:35 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/growing-saber-toothed-strong-start/ Thu, 15 Feb 2018 14:35:35 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/growing-saber-toothed-strong-start/ <p>During the Pleistocene, saber-toothed cats were formidable predators, with their massive canines and powerful front legs sporting razor-sharp claws. The bones of saber-toothed cats are thicker and more robust compared to those of other large cats, both modern and extinct. And previous studies of <em>Smilodon</em> have shown that their forelimbs in particular featured several adaptations, including thickened cortical bone, which would have increased strength, presumably useful in subduing ambushed prey.</p> https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/la-brea-climate-adaptation-different-cats-and-dogs/ Wed, 09 Jul 2014 12:37:45 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/la-brea-climate-adaptation-different-cats-and-dogs/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/la-brea-climate-adaptation-different-cats-and-dogs/Cantner_LaBrea_flat.jpg" alt="New research on bones at the La Brea tar pits suggests saber-toothed cats (at right) grew larger as the climate warmed toward the end of the last ice age, whereas dire wolves grew smaller. Credit: Kathleen Cantner, AGI." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>New research on bones at the La Brea tar pits suggests saber-toothed cats (at right) grew larger as the climate warmed toward the end of the last ice age, whereas dire wolves grew smaller. Credit: Kathleen Cantner, AGI.</figcaption> </figure> <p>&ldquo;The most attractive thing about working at the tar pits is the sheer quantity of fossils,&rdquo; says Robin O&rsquo;Keefe, an evolutionary biologist at <a href="http://www.marshall.edu/landing/home/index.html">Marshall College</a> in West Virginia and lead author of the dire wolf study, published in <a href="http://palaeo-electronica.org/">Palaeontologia Electronica</a>. &ldquo;Instead of just studying individuals, we can actually ask population-level questions about how these animals evolved.&rdquo;</p> https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/csi-la-brea-tiny-traces-reveal-big-secrets-tar-pits/ Tue, 15 Oct 2013 11:11:47 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/csi-la-brea-tiny-traces-reveal-big-secrets-tar-pits/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/csi-la-brea-tiny-traces-reveal-big-secrets-tar-pits/Cantner_LaBrea.jpg" alt="Kathleen Cantner, AGI" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Kathleen Cantner, AGI</figcaption> </figure> <p>The <a href="http://www.tarpits.org/">La Brea tar pits</a> in the middle of Los Angeles are known for turning up spectacularly preserved specimens of dire wolves, saber-tooth cats and woolly mammoths. But how long it took for the animals to sink down into the sticky tar after they became trapped has long been a mystery. Now a new study looking at the traces left by hungry bone-eating insects is providing a minimum time span for burial, as well as confirming some long-held suspicions about when the tar pits were at their most lethal.</p>