Index Fossil #4

Asphalt, not tar, bubbles up from the ground. The "Tar Pits" technically were not made of tar and were not actually pits either. How did animals die in the tar pits?

• Animals would eat the asphalt and die because it is toxic. 

• Animals would get stuck in the several inches of asphalt on the surface of the water that works like sticky fly paper. Animals get stuck, can't get out, and die of starvation, exposure, or predation. 

• Animals would get stuck in the several inches of asphalt on the surface of the water that works like sticky fly paper. Then they would drown. 

Even though the paleontologists have millions of specimens, why do they continue to dig for more? 

• They are trying to find fossils from organisms at all stages of their lives. (juveniles, adolescents, adults, and elderly) 

• They are looking for a specific fossil that they haven't found yet. 

What can the scientists gain from studying the micro fossils in the tar pit sand? 

• They can learn how plants and insects changed due to global warming. 

• They can learn how the composition of sand changed due to global warming.