Science Friday ‘Prehistoric Planet’ Defrosts Strange Animals Of The Ice Age
Dec 23, 2025
Join paleozoologist Dr. Darren Naish and paleoecologist Dr. Emily Lindsey as they dive into the fascinating world of Ice Age megafauna. They discuss the challenges of recreating strange creatures using CGI, like koalas with lion bodies and 8-foot-tall sloths. Emily shares discoveries from the La Brea Tar Pits, revealing a lush ecosystem filled with giant mammals. The duo also explores the reasons behind the extinction of these colossal animals, touching on the roles of climate change and human impact.
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Familiar Animals Are Harder To Recreate
- Familiar Ice Age animals pose special reconstruction challenges because viewers know modern analogues like cats and elephants.
- Darren Naish says small errors in posture or integument immediately fail the audience's plausibility test.
La Brea Preserves A Lush Ice Age Savanna
- Emily Lindsey describes the La Brea Tar Pits as a lush savanna with thousands of Ice Age fossils.
- She lists seven cat species, direwolves, mammoths, sloths and hundreds of birds and reptiles preserved there.
Ice Age Was Cold And Unexpectedly Dry
- The Pleistocene had both extreme cold regions and broad dry zones because much water was locked in ice.
- Darren Naish explains lower sea levels and a drier atmosphere expanded savannas and deserts globally.