October 7, 2010
The La Brea tar pits of southern California have revealed and continue to demonstrate an amazing assemblage of megafauna, some of which may have bearing on various cryptid candidates. What ones might be the answer to reports of various unknown animals in the files of cryptozoology? What do you think? Join a Cryptomundo survey of your thoughts.
Carnivores of Rancho La Brea.
From left to right. The dire wolf (Canis dirus), the sabre-toothed cat (Smilodon fatalis), the short-faced bear (Arctodus simus), the cheetah-like cat (Miracinonyx sp.), and the American lion (Panthera leo atrox). Modified from Turner, A., and Anton, M., The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives. Columbia University Press: New York, 1997.
Herbivores of Rancho La Brea.
From left to right. The pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), the deer (Odocoileus sp.), the giant camel (Camelops hesternus), the horse (Equus occidentalis), and the bison (Bison sp.).
Modified from Turner, A., and Anton, M., The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives. Columbia University Press: New York, 1997.
What of the finds from other tar pits throughout the Americas?
Homotherium
Glyptodons. Sclerocalyptus above.
Mixotoxodon
Macrauchenia
(Read more here.)
Pampatherium
What members of the megafauna of the Rancho La Brea and other tar pits do you think still exist?
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Artifacts, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Extinct, Fossil Finds, Megafauna