Section 3

Section three.

You will hear to environmental science students called Rosie and Martin discussing their presentation on an extinct animal called the woolly mammoth with their tutor.

First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.

So Rosie and Martin let’s look at what you’ve got for your presentation on woolly mammoths.

Okay, we’ve got a short outline here.

Thanks, ah, so it’s about a research project in North America.

Yes, but we thought we needed something general about woolly mammoths in our introduction, to establish that they were related to our modern elephant and they lived thousands of years ago in the last ice age.

Maybe we could show a video clip of a cartoon about mammoths, but that’d be a bit childish, or we could have a diagram it could be a timeline to show when they lived with illustrations.

Or we could just show a drawing of them walking in the ice, know let’s go with your last suggestion.

Good then, you’re describing the discovery of the mammoth tooth on st. Paul’s Island in Alaska and why it was significant.

Yes, the tooth was found by a man called Russell Graham he picked it up from under a rock in the cave.

He knew it was special for a start it was in really good condition as if it had been just extracted from the animals jawbone.

Anyway they found it was 6500 years old.

Sure why was that significant?

Well the mammoth bones previously found on the North American mainland were much less recent than that so this was really amazing.

Then we’re making an animated diagram to show the geography of the area in prehistoric times.

So originally simple’s Island wasn’t an island it was connected to the mainland and mammoths and other animals like bears were able to roam around the whole area.

Then the climate warmed up and the sea level began to rise and the islands got cut off from the main land, so those mammoths on the island couldn’t escape, they had to stay on the island.

And in fact the species survived there for thousands of years, after they’d become extinct on the mainland.

So, why do you think they died out on the mainland?

No one’s sure.

Anyway next we’ll explain how Graham and his team identified the date when the mammoths became extinct on the island.

They concluded that the extinction happened 5600 years ago which is a very precise time for a prehistoric extinction.

It’s based on samples they took from mud at the bottom of a lake on the island, they analyzed it to find out what had fallen in overtime bits of plants, volcanic ash, and even DNA from the mammoths themselves.

It’s standard procedure but it took nearly two years to do.

Before you hear the rest of the discussion you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.

Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.

So why don’t you quickly go through the main sections of your presentation?

And discuss what actions needed for each part?

Okay so for the introduction we’re using a visual so once we prepared that we’re done.

I’m not sure, I think we need to write down all the ideas we want to include here not just rely on memory.

How we begin the presentation is so important.

You’re right.

The discovery of the Mammoth’s tooth is probably the most dramatic part but we don’t have that much information only what we got from the online article.

I thought maybe we could get in touch with the researcher who led the team and asked him to tell us a bit more.

Great idea, what about the section with the initial questions asked by the researchers?

We’ve got a lot on that, but we need to make it interesting.

We could ask the audience to suggest some questions about it and then see how many of them we can answer, I don’t think it would take too long.

Yes, that would add a bit of variety.

Then the section on further research carried out on the island, analyzing the mud in the lake.

I wonder if we’ve actually got too much information here should we cut some.

I don’t think so, but it’s all a bit muddled at present.

Yes, maybe it would be better, if it followed a chronological pattern.

I think so, the findings and possible explanations section is just about ready, but we need to practice it so we’re sure it won’t overrun.

I think it should be okay but yes let’s make sure.

Hmm, in the last section relevance to the present day, you’ve got some good ideas but this is where you need to move away from the ideas of others and give your own viewpoint.

Okay, well think about that.

Now shall we show you something?

That is end of section three, you now have half a minute to check your answers.

Now turn to section four.