San Diego Natural History Museum

"Science does not aim at establishing immutable truths and eternal dogmas.  Its aim is to approach the truth by successive approximations, without claiming that at any stage final and complete accuracy has been achieved." ........Bertrand Russell

Everything written in italics is taken from their literature or signs posted with the exhibits.

Many of the lovely buildings in Balboa park were erected for the 1915 World's Fair.  

The Natural History Museum was built however, in 1874.

Coast Redwood, Sequoia Sempervirens,   This tree was 654 years old when it fell.   This section was cut from a fallen tree in Humboldt Redwood State Park, Ca.  It is 7 ft across.  Coast Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, reaching 380 feet high.  They may grow to 26 feet in diameter and live up to 2000 years.  Coast Redwoods grow in the fog belt of the coastal mountains, from southwestern Oregon to Monterey County, Calif.

Giant Sequoia, Sequoiadendron....This fossilized log is 30 million years old. It came from an extinct Sequoia forest in Eastern Oregon that was preserved for 30 million years.  The tree was encased in lava in an almost upright position.  Its annual growth rings were deformed by the weight of overlying sediments, yet they remain clearly visible.

I am so sorry...everything was so shiny in the museum that there is a glare in almost every photo.



Mastodon, Original fossil found in Indiana, lived during the Pleistocene Epoch



This guy looked like a giant four-legged chicken to me. 

It is so fun to imagine, that if all of these creatures had survived, the desert would be populated today by sabertooth tigers, camels, mastodons, sloths and 'Albert' below.  Instead we have lizards, scorpions, snakes and coyotes.  But then, if we had a Tyrannosaurus, we would probably not have us.

Sabertooth Cat, lived in the Los Angeles area 10,000 to 40,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch

 

Harlan's Ground Sloth, lived in the Los Angeles area 10,000 to 40,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch

Albertosaurus,  tyrannosaur family.  Lived in the San Diego region 75 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.

Balaenula, Extinct right whale...3.5 million years old, Pliocene Epoch, San Diego County area.

Then there were a few live critters to remind us that this is still desert ....



and the wildlife is still wild....

  

or not.