Part 1 Video Critique
The video chosen for the critique is a video showing the discovery of wooly mammoth carcass in Siberia by scientists (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GQKWQ1t9r0). The wooly mammoth was a big, shaggy and tusked elephant like animal that lived in the ice age period. The animal belongs to the mammoth species which is the common name for the elephant genus Mammuthus which is now extinct. A catastrophic weather event, climate change, disease and human activities may have wiped out these huge shaggy beasts. They lived in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America during the ice age period. The last mammoths may have lived around 1700 B.C. The video begins by showing the mammoth’s carcass partly buried in ice during the excavation exercise. It then shows a scientist who is trying to scrap off some ice from a piece of the carcass using a knife. It then shows scientists drilling a hole into the ice beneath the mammoth’s body. To their surprise, dark red blood begins to trickle from the animal’s carcass. The narrator begins by introducing the fact that scientists have discovered freshly preserved mammoth blood and muscle tissue under thick permafrost in Siberia. The narrator says that the extinct animal may have lived on earth between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago. She says that the discovery of fresh blood and tissue has revived the Jurassic park’s dream of cloning the animal. In the video, Semyon Grigoriev from the mammoth museum of Russia North Eastern University says that blood samples from the mammoth have been preserved in a freezer at the mammoth museum. He says that the blood did not freeze at negative 17 degrees Celsius. He concludes by stating that a lot of research will need to be conducted before jumping to any conclusion. As the video comes to an end the narrator says that several attempts to clone the animal have been made from the 1990s from less fresh samples. Discovery of fresh blood has brought new hope of cloning the extinct animal.
The video has several pros which are:
- The video is of a high quality. The fossil is clearly visible and identifiable as a carcass buried in ice.
- The video shows the point at which blood starts oozing from the carcass. This is the main subject of the video and capturing it precisely at the moment when it occurred is a big plus for the video.
- The video contains information from an expert. This serves as a confirmation that the discovery took place and helps the viewer to get clear professional information about the discovery.
- The narrator is audible. There is no background noise that affects audio clarity.
- The narrator makes a reference to the Jurassic park dream which enables the viewer to create a mental image of how it will be if the cloning dream is realized.
Nevertheless there are some cons observed in the video:
- The video does not provide a layman’s explanation of what cloning is.
- The video does not show the full carcass of the animal after excavation.
- The narrator does not provide much information about the wooly mammoth.
I first heard the evolution story of mammoth species during a museum visit when I was a kid. I have since done a lot of research on the topic and acquired a large amount of knowledge about the same. The resemblance between mammoths and elephants is great. I have never opposed the fact that the two animals are relatives. However, there is one question to which I have never found a clear answer: “If all mammoths from which the elephants evolved from died at some point in history, where did the elephants come from if all their ancestors died in the ice age period?”
There is a lot of evidence to support the evolution theory as well as the creation theory. There is evidence to support both theories. I am a Christian but I have never viewed the evolution theory as one that opposes my faith. However, research should be conducted to establish whether there is a relationship between the two theories.
The book of Job in the Bible which is one of the oldest books in the Bible talks about some giant animals which co existed with man. Job 40:15 speaks about a giant creature that ate grass like an ox. It had a tail like cedar and could drink a river dry. Bible scholars agree that this animal is currently extinct. There is no such animal in our world. Therefore, the Bible at some point may be taken as agreeing to the fact that some animals may have gone extinct. Its only research that can prove whether there is a relationship between the creation and the evolution theory.
Part B: Reading critique.
The reading chosen for this part is a peer reviewed article by David Bravo, Jesus Rodriguez, Joaquin Hortal, Persaram Batra and Miguel B Araujo. It was published on 1st April 2008 and accessible online through this link: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0060079.
The article is about research that was conducted to determine whether mammoths became extinct due to climatic factors or increased hunting by humans. It explains the two models to be used in conducting the research which are climatic envelope model and the dynamic population model. The variables that are used to explain the two models are warmest month’s mean temperatures, coldest month mean temperature, mean temperature and annual precipitation. The paper then provides the results of the two experiments. Graphs and maps are provided to aid in understanding the results. The materials and methods used to conduct the research are then explained on in detail. Supporting information is then provided after which acknowledgements and author contributions are outlined. At the bottom of the article, 59 references which were used during the research are listed.
The pros of the article were:
- Graphs have been provided to help the reader understand the results of the research
- Detailed information about the methods of research used
The main con of the article was:
- Too many technical terms have been used in the article. They may confuse an ordinary reader.
I loved how the researchers are committed towards finding out what really caused the extinction of mammoths. They take the reader through the research process systematically. I appreciated the fact that the article entirely depends on conducted research to draw any conclusion. It does not use unfounded theories to explain the extinction of mammoths. The theory of mammoth’s evolution and the evolution of other animals is a good theory that tries to explain the origin of life on earth. However, I believe that there was a force that was in control of the process. The divine force was God and I believe in the creation theory. However, more research should be conducted to find out whether there is a relationship between the two theories.
