Stretch Activity: Wikipedia

I had fun checking out Wikipedia and looking at the discussion and history tabs. I looked up ring-tailed lemurs. Having studied them for an intensive project in college (and having spent a ridiculous number of hours observing them), I decided this would be a good topic to look at when assessing the validity of a Wikipedia page.

The information on the page is valid and well-written. There are sections describing the physical characteristics of ring-tails, their habits and diet, and their natural history. It even included a description of “stink fights,” which are hilarious to watch. I was happy to see a link to the Duke Lemur Center, which is a fantastic place to visit. I am surprised that there was no information about why lemurs are the only primates, other than humans, in Madagascar and why lemurs do not exist in the wild in any other place in the world (Gondwanaland, not much competition/predation in Madagascar, etc.). Perhaps this information is included on a main lemur page… I’ll have to check.

I looked at the discussion and history tabs to find out more about the page’s progress over time. Most of the discussion on the page was about the photographs matching the information and the captions used. One person felt that there were too many photographs and that the captions did not match the photographs. One photo showed lemurs huddling, but the caption mentioned their alarm calls. At the time, alarm calls were not mentioned in the article itself. Additionally, there was some debate over a part of the article mentioning the only recorded attack of a ring-tailed lemur on a human in the United States. Captive ring-tails have been known to bite humans, so a contributer mentioned that this line may be removed. Looking at the history provided some insights into the changes made in the article. For instance, the terms “toilet claw” and “tooth comb” were added to clarify a physical description of the ring-tailed lemur.

I enjoyed looking at the Wikipedia site. Not only did I get to revisit one of my favorite animals and get a blast from the past, but I got more insight into the valuable nature of collaboration.

Here is a funny (bad quality) photo of a friend and I at Duke Lemur Center:

Here is a photo of some of the lemurs from my study of captive ring-tailed lemurs (so cute):

K12 Learning 2.0 | Comment (0)