An odorous swamp of gooey asphalt oozes to the earth's surface in the middle of Los Angeles. No, it's not a low budget horror-movie set -- it's the La Brea Tar Pits, a bizarre primal pool on Museum Row where hot tar has been bubbling from the earth for more than 40,000 years. The bubbling pools may look like a fake Disney set but they're the real thing, and have enticed thirsty animals throughout history. Thousands of mammals, birds, amphibians, and insects -- many of which are now extinct -- crawled into the sticky sludge, got stuck in the worst way, and stayed forever. In 1906 scientists began a systematic removal and classification of entombed specimens, including ground sloths, giant vultures, mastodons, camels, bears, lizards, a Starbucks, and even prehistoric relatives of today's superrats. The best finds are on display in the adjacent Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits, where an entertaining 15-minute film documenting the recoveries is also shown. Archaeological work is ongoing; you can watch as scientists clean, identify, and catalog new finds in the Paleontology Laboratory.