Anecdotes in Primatology: Temporal Trends, Anthropocentrism, and Hierarchies of Knowledge

Abstract

Formal narrative descriptions of primates have long been used by primatologists to describe novel events that are not captured by other data collection methods. However, there has been a shift away from narrative accounts toward more quantitative methods both within primatology and more broadly in the natural sciences.Our objective was to investigate the shifting use of anecdotal evidence in primatology. We systematically reviewed anecdotal accounts published in the four major primatology journals since the year 2000. We found 163 published anecdotal accounts out of 3,960 total articles published between 2000 and 2016. There was an overall decrease in the rates of anecdotes published during this time. Those published covered a wide range of topics and taxa but were skewed toward larger, diurnal primates-in particular, apes. We suggest that anecdotal evidence should continue to be published but that the publication of these data should better reflect the taxonomic diversity of primates. We also suggest potential venues for anecdote publication that may compensate for their loss from formal scientific journals. [narratives, qualitative data, anthropomorphic, primates, observation] RESUMEN Las descripciones narrativas formales de primates han sido utilizadas por largo tiempo por primatólogos para describir eventos novedosos que no son capturados por otros métodos de colección de datos. Sin embargo, ha habido un distanciamiento de los relatos narrativos hacia métodos más cuantitativos tanto dentro de la primatología como más ampliamente en las ciencias naturales. Nuestro objetivo era investigar el uso cambiante de evidencia anecdótica en primatología. Revisamos sistemáticamente los relatos anecdóticos publicados en las cuatro revistas académicas principales de primatología desde el año 2000. Encontramos 163 relatos anecdóticos publicados de un total de 3.960 artículos. Hubo una disminución general en las tasas de anécdotas publicadas durante este tiempo.Aquellas publicadas cubrían un amplio rango de temas y taxones, pero estaban sesgadas hacia primates diurnos, más grandes -en particular, simios. Sugerimos que la evidencia anecdótica debe continuar siendo publicada, pero que la publicación de estos datos debe reflejar mejor la diversidad taxonómica de los primates. También sugerimos lugares potenciales para la publicación de anécdotas que pueden compensar por su pérdida de las revistas académicas formales. [narrativas, datos cualitativos, antropomórfico, primates, observación] RÉSUMÉ Des descriptions narratives formelles ont longtempsété utilisées par les primatologues pour décrire des phénomènes nouveaux observés. Toutefois, une transition vers l'utilisation de méthodes quantitatives plutôt que de comptes-rendus narratifs a progressivementété observée en primatologie. L'objectif de cette recherché etait d'examiner cette transition en faisant une revue systématique des comptes-rendus anecdotiques publiés dans

How to Report Anecdotal Observations? A New Approach Based on a Lesson From “Puffin Tool Use”

“…Note that thousands of hours of behavior recordings increase the chance to observe any kind of rarities (anomalies). Thus, the reluctance of journals to publish such reports is understandable (Ramsay and Teichroeb, 2019).…”

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BACKGROUNDThere has been a long history of anecdotal reports in the field of natural history and comparative (evolutionary) animal behavior. Although, at the time of writing there is an open call for researchers of animal behavior by one of the oldest journal of the field "BEHAVIOR" to report "anecdotal evidence of unique behavior" (Kret and Roth, 2020), nowadays we see a decreasing trend of reporting anecdotes in scientific journals (Ramsay and Teichroeb, 2019). We do not dispute the relevance of publishing rare and novel behaviors or events, as they can be important drivers for future research, but we would like to draw attention to the fact that these reports should follow some standards and authors should be careful in avoiding over-interpretations.An example of possible over-interpretation is a recently published article (Fayet et al, 2020a) that also received a lot of media hype (e.g., 79 news outlets at the time of writing; for more details see Altmetric, 2020).

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To tell a different story: Unexpected diversity in local attitudes towards Endangered Aye‐ayes Daubentonia madagascariensis offers new opportunities for conservation

“…Thirteen out of 17 articles about attitudes towards Aye-ayes are published in newsletters of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group with the latest article being published in 2008 (König & Zavasoa, 2008). Reports like these are invaluable for illustrating rare behaviours, special incidents or interesting insights from the field (Ramsay & Teichroeb, 2019), but are likely to overemphasize the significance of a certain kind of observation (Parker et al, 2019). In this case, these are the 'horror stories' about Aye-ayes being sighted or entering villages and being killed as a preventive measure to avert something evil ( Table 2).…”

The Hidden Side of Animal Cognition Research: Scientists’ Attitudes Toward Bias, Replicability and Scientific Practice

“…Notably, throughout this history, animal cognition researchers have often sought to improve how we study animal cognition. They foregrounded debates on experimenter bias (Pfungst, 1911;Yerkes, 1915), parsimony (Morgan, 1894) and ecological validity (Hare, 2001), and the importance of a wide range of anecdotal (Kret & Roth, 2020;Ramsay & Teichroeb, 2019), observational (Boesch, 2021) and experimental data (Washburn et al, 1994;Yasukawa & Bonnie, 2017). However, whether the field has vastly improved its methods along these lines is debated.…”