Between 40,000 and 20,000 years ago, 47 species of large
mammals went extinct in North America, for reasons that are
still not clear. Even so, if we could walk around Southern
California before these extinctions, we would have seen
mammoths, giant ground sloths, camels, lions, dire wolves, and
saber-toothed tigers. This seminar will begin with a one-hour
introduction to the problem, followed by a day-long visit to
the George C. Page Museum, at the La Brea tar pits in West
L.A. The goal is to familiarize you with a California
biologically very different from the one you are accustomed
to. One class meeting is on Friday, 4/16 and there is a field
trip to LA from 10-5 on Saturday, 4/17.
