Sunday, 12 February 2012

Mammoth News

In one of those stories that any reader of this blog will know that I can't resist, there have been reports that a 'Woolly Mammoth' has been filmed in Siberia ..... and here's what's causing the stir

Siberian Mammoth 2012
Siberian Mammoth 2012

Superficially this picture and the accompanying, but strangely short video (... less than 10 seconds long), appear to be proof positive that Mammoths survived in Siberia from the Pleistocene. But there are in fact several issues with this story that show it to be possibly not quite what it seems.
 
Firstly the subject of the picture .... its obvious to me that its most likely a brown bear with a salmon (or other large fish) in its mouth, filmed with a poor resolution (2 or 3 mega-pixels) phone video cam, and on a very misty day. Or it could be just a computer generated image (cgi) using photo-shop type software. Oddly there is actually nothing 'in focus' in the video, which in itself is cause for suspicion, as most phone video cams are able to take reasonably focused films these days.

Then there is the video, which doesn't show the 'mammoth' entering or leaving the freezing river (a real mammoth wouldn't be hanging about in the water, whereas a fishing bear would). Also, the animal seems to wade strangely, so it could just be a partially or wholly a cgi construct .... its easy enough to do with home software these days.  

But finally, there is the man who is associated with the story, one Michael Cohen who is a 'Paranormal writer'  ... he has previously reported on or been associated with other such video scoops as UFOs and other phenomena, that are equally 'interesting' (see link).

Now I don't know about you, but UFOs don't appear too often round my way, but they positively swarm in the sky's over Mr Cohen's head, so maybe its not strange that the Mammoths are drawn into his world as well. I am strangely jealous that his world is so full of phenomena that mine lacks ..... so I have created my own mammoth and added it to the picture, mainly just to illustrate how quickly these can be created .... admittedly its not great, but then I only spent 20 minutes and I could do better in an hour or so. Also I didn't have the exact angle head shot to get the same effect, but even so its not much different from the 'real' one.

Two Mammoths Siberia
Two Mammoths Siberia

And as I am not a meanie, I have shown how it was done below .... well a quick version.

Faking A Photograph
Faking A Photograph

You can see the video here on the site link.

by visiting No PC Views (http://no-pc.blogspot.co.uk/)

2 comments:

  1. The hoax has been exposed or admitted.

    Mammoth Hoax

    Still, interesting post and illustration of faking a picture.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A belated thanks for your comment ..... faked photos are now the bane of publishers lives, as they are so easy to make.

    ReplyDelete

All comments are welcomed, or even just thanks if you enjoyed the post. But please make any comment relevant to the post it appears under. Off topic comments will be blocked or removed.

Moderation is on for older posts to stop spamming and comments that are off topic or inappropriate from being posted .... comments are reviewed within 48 hours. I don't block normal comments that are on topic and not inappropriate. Vexatious comments that may cause upset to other commentators, or that are attempting to espouse a particular wider political view, are reviewed before acceptance. But a certain amount of debate around a post topic is accepted, as long as it remains generally on topic and is not an attempt to become sounding board for some other cause.

Final decision on all comments is held by the blog author and is final.

Comments are always monitored for bad or abusive language, and or illegal statements i.e. overtly racist or sexist content. Spam is not tolerated and is removed.

Commentaires ne sont surveillés que pour le mauvais ou abusif langue ou déclarations illégales ie contenu ouvertement raciste ou sexiste. Spam ne est pas toléré et est éliminé.