Cretaceous: Earth Processes | K-T: Extinction | Eocene: Evolution
Oligocene: Evolution | Miocene: Earth Processes | Pliocene: Paleocology
Pleistocene: Extinction
WHERE ARE THE DINOSAURS?
Exhibit Map: Cretaceous: Earth Processes
Look at fossil clues to discover the dinosaurs of our region, where they lived, and why their fossils are rare here.
75 million years ago, dinosaurs ambled over steep mountains, which plunged into the warm Pacific Ocean. The fossils in this section are from Southern California and Baja California during the Cretaceous (kreh TAY shus) Period.
What You Can See
Big and ferocious, Albertosaurus lunges toward the crested Lambeosaurus defending her nest. Ankylosaur watches with anticipation. Dive beneath the waves and find an unexpected dinosaur. Resting in peace, its bones form a reef of oysters and clams. Ammonites with large coiled shells swim by, while mosasaurs and sharks lurk in the shadows.
What You Can Do
Fossils show that environments change-what we see today is not how it has always been. What does that tell us about the future?
HOW DID MASS EXTINCTION RESET THE WORLD STAGE?
Exhibit Map: K-T Extinction
Fossil clues from around the world show that after the mass extinction 65 million years ago, new life forms evolved to take advantage of new opportunities.
What You Can See and Do
Stand on the threshold of the age of dinosaurs and the age of mammals. Bathed in red light, a dead feathered dinosaur is consumed by small mammal survivors. See a chunk of Earth that records events following a meteor impact, when dinosaurs became extinct and the world changed forever.
HOW IS THE PRESENT THE KEY TO THE PAST?
Exhibit Map: Eocene: Evolution
Compare fossil clues to modern animals to see how form and function relate. Imagine prehistoric looks, lifestyles, and locomotion.
34 to 55 million years ago, unfamiliar forms of mammals lived in subtropical woodlands bordered by lagoons. The fossils in this section are from San Diego County during the Eocene (EE oh seen) Epoch.
What You Can See
Enter a lush subtropical woodland bursting with unusual plants and animals. Sights, sounds, and smells activate your senses. Primates leap through avocado trees, rhinoceros-like brontotheres crash through dense foliage, crocodiles prowl around a lily-filled lagoon. Thunder rolls-a storm threatens. Birds sing while bats sleep in tree hollows.
What You Can Do
Fossils are relevant. Discovering the relationship between form and function (how bones are shaped and how they move) helps us to understand how life works. How can we apply this knowledge to solve challenges today?
HOW DID PREHISTORIC ANIMALS SURVIVE?
Exhibit Map: Oligocene: Evolution
Compare fossil clues with modern animals to discover how form and function relate, and how animals' bodies adapt to challenges and opportunities in their environment.
24 to 34 million years ago, the climate dried and cooled, forests receded, grasslands expanded, and runners burst onto the scene. Fossils in this section are from San Diego County during the Oligocene (AH lig oh seen) Epoch.
What You Can See
Herds of grazing animals-camels, mouse deer, and oreodonts-extend as far as the eye can see. Forerunners of modern cats and dogs look on with hunger, as one breaks into a chase. A tortoise, protected by a domed shell, lazily nibbles flowers. Volcanoes smoke in the distance.
What You Can Do
Fossils are relevant. We share the world with animals with tremendous capabilities. Fossils help us understand how they evolved their wonderful traits, nurturing our wonder for life.
HOW DID OUR REGION TAKE SHAPE?
Exhibit Map: Miocene: Earth Processes
Look at fossil clues and rocks to discover how plate tectonics-Earth's moving crust-sculpts our geography.
5 to 24 million years ago, Earth's moving plates ripped a peninsula from the North American mainland, a gulf filled with water, and prehistoric seafloors were lifted high and dry. The fossils in this section are from Southern California and Baja California during the Miocene (MY oh seen) Epoch.
What You Can See
See how moving plates of our planet's crust have shaped the Earth-past and present. Various views of our dynamic planet illustrate the profound effects of plate movement, from the shape of continents to the profile of mountains. When fossils from past oceans are found in our region's deserts and mountains today, these fossil mysteries can only be understood in light of plate tectonics. Encounter one of these fossil mysteries-the 40-foot Carcharodon megalodon- the largest predatory shark of all time.
What You Can Do
Fossils and rocks are relevant. Rocks and fossils reveal the effects of plate movement which we feel as earthquakes. How can understanding geologic forces and the location of faults help us prepare for future earthquakes and other geologic events?
SO MANY ANIMALS, ALL SO DIFFERENT—HOW DID THEY SHARE THIS ANCIENT BAY?
Exhibit Map: Pliocene: Paleocology
Look at fossil clues to discover prehistoric ecology-the roles and relationships in this 3 million-year-old ocean community.
1.8 to 5 million years ago, a great diversity of animals swam a giant bay, which stretched from La Jolla through downtown San Diego to south of Tijuana. These fossils are from Southern California and Baja California during the Pliocene (PLY oh seen) Epoch.
What You Can See
A giant sea cow mama and baby float peacefully in a kelp forest. Sea birds dive and nab silvery fish swirling in an energetic ball. Walruses swim upside-down feeling the bay bottom with their bristly whiskers. Sharks circle a diversity of whales. Sand dollars, scallops, clams, and snails live, die, and become fossils in an expansive bay.
What You Can Do
Fossils are relevant. Living communities were bound by relationships in the past as they are in the present. Might we better understand present ecosystems by studying past ecosystems?
WHERE HAVE ALL THE MAMMOTHS GONE?
Exhibit Map: Pleistocene: Extinction
Look at fossil clues to discover the pattern of extinction, possible causes, and links to the present.
10,000 to 1.8 million years ago, animals both giant and familiar lived amid dramatic climate swings and changing sea levels. The fossils in this section are from Southern California and Baja California during the Pleistocene (PLYS toh seen) Epoch.
What You Can See
A mastodon faces down a giant lion, while a baby mastodon runs for safety. An enormous ground sloth tears into an agave; horses and camels graze. Condors tend a nest. Tapirs and capybaras splash in the lake while saber-tooth cats and dire wolves wait for opportunity.
What You Can Do
Fossils are relevant. We live in a time of massive extinction. Might the Pleistocene extinction help us to understand present and future extinction?