When we think of Southern California, we usually think of relatively new. The East Coast of the United States is much older (Jamestown, New Amsterdam, etc.) and then there is Europe with its castles and then the really old civilizations of Central Asia. That's really old!
What we forget is that there have been plants and animals here in Southern California as long as anywhere else on the planet. North Orange County is actually the home to a number of fossils that can be seen at the Nature Center in Ralph Clark Park in Buena Park.
Over 400,000 years ago, Ralph B. Clark Regional Park was a land inhabited by creatures much different than those found here today.
Ring-tailed cats, mammoths, ground sloths, tapirs and extinct horses and bears lived among the ox-bow lakes, reeds, meadows and oak woodlands. Pond turtles and a type of llama known only to this site, complemented the turkeys, bobcats, deer and antelope that roamed here. The site, due to its great variety of fossils, has potential for investigation comparable to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
The rich fossil beds were revealed when the California Division of Highways excavated sand and gravel from the site for use in construction of the Santa Ana and Riverside Freeways from 1956 to 1973. At the time the park site was known as the Emery Borrow Pit.
The significance of the site led to public demand that it be preserved. As a result, the County of Orange acquired the property in 1974.
The Los Coyotes Paleontology Museum located within Ralph B. Clark Interpretive Center offers the opportunity to view displays and science collections that depict the ancient history of the Coyote Hills area in northern Orange County. Many of the new fossils were excavated and donated from local development projects in Fullerton and Brea.
Most of the fossils on display are from the Pleistocene period, dating from 1.8 million to 10,000 years ago. Four major “ice ages” or “glacials” occurred during this time. During the last, much of Orange County was under seawater. Across Rosecrans to the north, the yellow colored hills contain many fossilized shells and other evidence of sea life. School groups visit on field trips and, under guidance, are allowed to “catch and release” fossil hunt.
The severe climatic changes during the ice age had major impacts on the fauna and flora. With each advance of the ice, large areas of the continents became totally depopulated, and plants and animals retreating southward in front of the advancing glacier faced tremendous stress. The most severe stress resulted from drastic climatic changes, reduced living space, and curtailed food supply. A major extinction event of large mammals (megafauna), which included mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, glyptodons, ground sloths, and short-faced bears, began late in the Pleistocene and continued into the Holocene. Neanderthals also became extinct during this period. At the end of the last ice age, cold-blooded animals, smaller mammals like wood mice, migratory birds, and swifter animals like whitetail deer had replaced the megafauna and migrated north.
The extinctions were especially severe in North America where native horses and camels were eliminated.
In the Nature Cente, a sample of some of these fossils include:
- Paleo Bison
- American Bison
- Harlan's Ground Sloth
- Shasta Ground Sloth
- Sabertooth Cat (California State Fossil)
- Horse
- Mammoth teeth
- Columbian Mammoth tusk
Logging Requirements: Enter the Nature Center and locate the really large set of jaws. Email the answers to the following questions and please post a non-spoiler photo of yourself and your GPSr at the Nature Center.
- How long are the teeth?
- What period is it from?
- Why is it highlighted this far inland?
Ralph B. Clark Regional Park is open:
- April 1 to October 31 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
- November 1 to March 31 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
The Nature Center is open:
- T-F 12:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Sa & Su 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Vehicle Entry Fees
- Monday - Friday $3.00 per entry
- Saturday and Sunday $5.00 per entry
- Major Holidays: $7.00 to $10.00 per entry as posted. (Mothers Day, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day.)
Sources:
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Earth Cache Masters Program
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