Big AlThe BBC video about Big Al the Allosaurus follows a dinosaur from day one. It shows him hatching from his egg all the way to his death. Big Al is a healthy baby Allosaurus who grows up but does not make it to his full size. As he is learning how to survive in the world, he fails at more things than he succeeds at. This leads to his eventual demise. For example. Al gets injured while attempting to hunt prey and ends up dying as a result of it.
Some events that happen in the video are based on fossil evidence, and some are not. There are three examples of each of these in the story. One of the things that is based on fossil evidence is the infection in Al’s middle toe. This can be seen in his preserved skeleton. Another aspect of the story is Al’s broken rib bone. This too can be seen in his skeleton. The third aspect of the video that is based on fossil evidence is that he died in a riverbed. This can be proven by how well his fossil was preserved and the way in which it was preserved.
The first aspect of the video that was created by the makers was when Al sees the dinosaur stuck in the mud, trying to eat meat from a carcass. Al realizes the other dinosaur’s mistake and does not fall for it himself. The second time that a part of they story was clearly invented by the Hollywood minds is when Al (along with other dinosaurs) surround the sick dinosaur from the pack and wait for it to die, in order to eat it. This probably occurred often but there is no evidence to support that Al did this. The third aspect is when Al breaks his toe. There is evidence in his skeleton to prove that his toe got broken and eventually infected, but how it happened is a mystery. The makers of the video came up with Al tripping over a branch and falling, but there is no evidence to support it. All of these things were made up to make the story flow well.
Bibliography:
[1] http://mw.pontology.org/articles/the-newanimals-story/
[2] Sivay B. Bhushan. The Science of Dinosaur Life: Inventing a New Creation. University of Virginia Press.
[3] B.H. Hilleman. ‘Al’s Dinosaur’. Science 321, pp. 464-484 (1998)
[4] C.G. DeS. Bioscience. Nature, Vol. 24, No. 10 (1998)
[5] M.A. R. Blum, ‘Dentistry: The Complete History, Development and Evolution’ by D.R. Blum. New York: Oxford University Press
[6] S.W. Drexler, ‘The Tale of Al’s Dinosaur, a Story about the Rise of Dinosaurs… in the ‘Diversity of Life’ Project’ (1993).
[7] D.A. L. McRae. “History and the Origin of Mammals: Al’s Dinosaur Story”, The New Republic, Apr 26, 1994.
[8] N.S. Gourley. Dinosaur, a New Creation Story (1979).
[9] R.J. Hutton. Dinosaur: A Journey to Understanding the Biology, Evolution and Biology of the Dinosaurous Tarsiers (1973).
[10] A. L. McRae. Dino Dinosaur: An Adventure in Creation Research (1976).
[11] K. H. Coyle. “Why Did Al’s Dinosaur Get so Faced with Feared Death? Al’s Dinosaur Story”. Science 328, pp. 13-26 (1990)
[12] M.F. Johnson, J.J. Sargent, R.E. Kelleher and T.F. Ligier. “An Exploration of Geology, Evolution and Evolutionary Biology to Discover the Causes of Dinosaurs’ Inflation and Loss of Size”. Science 327, Apr 13, 1994. (See also: “Al’s ‘Dinosaur’: An Adventure in Creation Research” by Steven R. Kelleher, the book is entitled “Al’s Dinosaur”).
[13] N.J. Henson. “Evolution of the Human Body during Creation”. Science 323, Nov 15, 1994. (See also: “Shifting the Brain Size and Time in Creation: Scientific Explanations”, by Thomas Baehr-Brown, the book is entitled “Shifting the Brain Size and Time in Creation: Scientific Explanations”); “Life-Based and Life-Focused Creation” (by W.D. Evans, Science 319, Oct 8, 1994).
[14] J.S. Hatton. “Evolution of the Human Body During Creation (1986)”, by G.W. B. McDaniel, Science 318, Apr 13, 1994
[15] D.J. Hall, “Posterior Development of the Dinosaur and Other Earth Species”, Science 318, Oct 5, 1994. (See also: “Life After Dinosaurs”, “Risk Taking Down Dinosaur in ‘Earth’s Dinomy’, The New York Times, May 10