ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel ABC Mouse ???? Search & Explore the La Brea Tar Pits FULL EPISODE | Discover Prehistoric Los Angeles ????
Hey everyone! Let’s go on an adventure with ABC, 1, 2, 3, and D! There are so many exciting places and people to discover. In the classroom, we can search and explore, and with every adventure, we learn even more. They visit countries near and far, making new friends along the way. The more they travel, the more they know. Get ready, let’s go!
ABC asks to borrow a scarf because it’s cold. They remember the teacher talking about a time when the Earth was much colder and covered with ice. This was the last ice age, a time when animals like mammoths and saber-tooth cats roamed the Earth. Some people call them saber-tooth tigers, but they weren’t really tigers at all!
ABC and friends are curious about a special place their teacher mentioned. It’s a place that helps scientists learn about life at the end of the last ice age. This place is called the La Brea Tar Pits, located in Los Angeles, California. They decide to explore and find out more!
At the tar pits, they meet Amelia, a scientist who digs up fossils of animals and plants. She explains that fossils give us clues about the past. They see a 10,000-year-old skull of a dire wolf, an extinct animal similar to today’s gray wolf but bigger.
Amelia shows them sharp teeth from a saber-tooth cat and asks if they think these teeth are for eating plants or animals. The friends guess correctly—animals! Amelia explains that animals that eat other animals are called carnivores, like wolves and sharks. Animals that eat only plants are called herbivores, like cows and horses.
Amelia explains how the tar pits trapped animals thousands of years ago. Oil from deep in the Earth formed pools of sticky tar. When it rained, water covered the tar, and animals like mammoths got stuck. Carnivores like saber-tooth cats came to eat them and got stuck too. Scientists now dig up these fossils to learn about the past.
ABC and friends get to try a new game called Mammoth Valley, which lets them experience life during the Ice Age. They answer questions to ride a mammoth and learn that mammoths are herbivores. They have fun racing and exploring the Ice Age world!
The friends discover that fossils can be more than just bones; they can also be teeth, eggs, footprints, and even poop! They enjoy the game and learn a lot about the amazing animals that lived during the Ice Age.
After their adventure, they thank Amelia and the mammoth, Whiskers, for the fun and learning. They sing a song about the La Brea Tar Pits and the fascinating fossils found there. The pits hold bones from dire wolves, sloths, and saber-tooth cats, teaching us about life thousands of years ago.
What a fantastic journey through time! The La Brea Tar Pits were such fun, and the friends are glad they went!
Ice Age Animal Masks: Create masks of different Ice Age animals like mammoths, saber-tooth cats, and dire wolves. Use paper plates, markers, and craft materials to design your mask. Once your mask is ready, pretend to be that animal and think about what it might have been like to live during the Ice Age. What would you eat? Where would you find shelter?
Fossil Hunt at Home: With the help of an adult, hide small objects around your house or yard to represent fossils. These could be small toys or stones. Use a spoon or small shovel to dig them up. Once you find them, try to guess what kind of “fossil” it is and what it might tell you about the past. Discuss with your family what real fossils can teach us about animals and plants from the Ice Age.
Draw and Discover: Draw a picture of an Ice Age scene. Include animals like mammoths and saber-tooth cats, and think about what the environment might have looked like. Was it snowy? Were there lots of trees? Share your drawing with a friend or family member and explain why you included each element. What do you think these animals needed to survive in such a cold world?
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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[Music] Hey everybody! Let’s go with ABC 1, 2, 3, and D! There are endless people and places to see. From the classroom, they can search and explore. With every adventure, you learn more. They visit countries near and far. They love to learn wherever they are. They see the world in a brand new way and make great new friends every day. ABC 1, 2, 3, and D! Come along and you will see, the more they travel, the more you know. Get ready, let’s go!
[Music]
ABC, can I borrow a scarf? It’s cold!
You haven’t noticed?
Nope, but now I do, which is kind of funny. The teacher was just talking about a time when the Earth was colder and covered with a lot more ice. Sounds like she was talking about the last ice age—that’s when animals like mammoths and saber-tooth cats lived. Some people like to call them saber-tooth tigers, but they weren’t really tigers at all.
Okay, but I’d like to find out why it’s so cold in here. I hope no one minds the temperature. It just needs to get a little colder and it’ll be all set.
Actually, cold enough for what?
My new ice sculpture!
Uh, that’s really good.
Do me silly, I haven’t started yet! What were you guys talking about?
Mammoths and saber-tooth cats with 7-inch long teeth! If only I could go back in time 14,000 years, maybe I’d get to see a saber-tooth cat up close or ride on the back of a mammoth. The teacher said that we’re going to learn about a very special place tomorrow. She did say it was a place that gives scientists a window to see what life was like at the end of the last ice age.
A window?
Couldn’t be a real window.
No, not a real window. It’s a really deep, dark, sticky pit.
Sounds messy! I love it! And get this, this special place is in the middle of the second largest city in America.
Well, I know what I want to do! Let’s search it! New York City has the most people, and Los Angeles has the second most—that’s in the state of California. Ooh, Hollywood’s there! Now let’s add deep dark pit and Ice Age.
Look! A statue of a mammoth! It’s standing in something that looks like it could be a deep dark sticky pit.
Oh, I think that must be the place our teacher was talking about—the La Brea Tar Pits!
Let’s go! It’s this way, come on! I wonder what a pit filled with tar has to do with the last ice age.
I’m sure we’re about to find out! That sign says the La Brea Tar Pits. It’s time to explore and learn more and more!
It’s this way, follow me!
Oh ABC, for a minute I thought my sandwich was escaping!
I’m Amelia, I’m so happy to meet you all!
Are you a scientist?
Yes, I get to dig the prehistoric fossils of animals and plants out of the muckiest, stickiest test pits you’ve ever seen, and yes, it is as fun as it sounds!
That’s fantastic! You must be a paleontologist!
Well, if you like fossils like this 10,000-year-old skull of a dire wolf, then you’d love paleontology too!
A dire wolf? Are they still alive today?
No, they’re extinct. They were a lot like the gray wolf of today, but bigger. Fossils like this give us clues about the animals of the past and the world they lived in.
Start with these fangs. Do you think they’re used for eating plants or animals?
Definitely animals! See how sharp the teeth are?
Very good! Animals that eat other animals are called carnivores, like mountain lions, wolves, and sharks. And animals that eat only plants, like cows, sheep, and horses, are called herbivores.
So exactly how did all these fossils get here?
I’ll show you! This pit is filled with fossil remains from animals that were trapped here from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago.
Wow! You see, oil that formed a long time ago down deep in the Earth seeped up through cracks and formed pools of dark sticky tar. When it rained, water would cover the tar, then animals like mammoths would come to drink the water and they’d get stuck. Since they couldn’t get away, they attracted carnivores like saber-tooth cats and dire wolves who also got stuck, and that’s where they stayed until a bunch of fossil-loving paleontologists like me came along about a hundred years ago and started digging them up and examining them to better understand the world they lived in.
So that’s why the teacher called the La Brea Tar Pits a window in time!
I just wish I could jump through that window into the Ice Age!
ABC, I think it’s time for you to see the museum.
Whoa, you can say that again!
Don’t!
So all these animals used to live right here in Los Angeles?
Yes, but long before there was a city here, giant animals like these roamed the land.
Where did they go?
Over here, follow me!
Well, some scientists think that the climate became too warm and dry here for the mammoths with their heavy fur coats, and the ones that stayed behind got stuck in the tar. Some of them did also. Some scientists think that a lot of the animals were hunted by people for food.
This is amazing! The skeleton of an actual saber-tooth cat! This just makes me wish more that I could be back in the actual Ice Age!
You can! Well, once I finish testing my first epic game about the Ice Age—Mammoth Valley!
Mammoth Valley? I want to play!
Raj’s game will be a great learning tool for kids here at the museum. It will feel like you’re right there living with the mammoths, dire wolves, and saber-tooth cats!
Oh, I want to try it! Is the game ready?
Well, I haven’t exactly finished testing it, but you could test it in a way nobody else ever could! I mean, if you want to!
ABC, let’s think this through.
Don’t!
Do you really want to be the first to try something like this?
Why do I ask?
Wait for me!
Are we really in the Ice Age? It doesn’t look very icy to me.
A lot of the Earth was covered in ice, but not all of it, like the area that would become Los Angeles. It was just a lot colder than it is now.
Look over there! Who wants to ride a mammoth?
I do!
All you have to do is answer the following question correctly: True or false, a mammoth is a carnivore?
False!
Right! They’re herbivores!
Hey, I like this game! This is awesome!
Race!
Yahoo! Better watch out, we’re right behind you!
Not if I can help it!
Winner!
Hey guys, what took you so long?
I never want to leave this game ever!
True or false, a dire wolf’s poop can be a fossil?
True!
True! True! Fossils can also be teeth, eggs, footprints, and shells!
You’re the biggest pet I’ve ever had! I’m naming you Whiskers!
This might be my favorite video game ever!
So what did you think?
That was incredible! The mammoths were huge!
Oh, very exciting! It was all so lifelike!
We better go now, but thanks for letting us see what it was like during the Ice Age and learn all about the amazing animals that lived here thousands of years ago, like Whiskers!
Thank you, Whiskers!
Can we look now?
Not yet! If it gets any colder in here, we’re going to have our own little Ice Age!
Tada! Whiskers, let’s keep him forever!
I’ll give you 5 minutes and then I’m turning the temperature back up!
Now it’s time to sing along! Big black pits of sticky tar with bones everywhere teach us about animals and plants that once lived.
[Applause]
There, the pits hold bones from dire wolves, sloths, and saber-tooth cats. They even found saber-tooth cats!
I wish that they weren’t gone. They all lived in the Ice Age back 40,000 years.
Their fossils show us how they looked, from their tails to their ears.
Big black pits of sticky tar with fossils everywhere! The La Brea Tar Pits were such fun! I’m so glad we went!
[Music]
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This version maintains the essence of the original transcript while removing any informal or potentially inappropriate language.
