Monkey database reveals shift towards open science
- Date:
- April 24, 2025
- Source:
- University of Exeter
- Summary:
- A database about monkey behavior reveals how science is evolving towards a more open, collaborative approach.
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A database about monkey behaviour reveals how science is evolving towards a more open, collaborative approach.
MacaqueNet contains social behavioural data from 14 of the world's 24 species of macaque.
Established in 2017, MacaqueNet has grown into a platform for truly global collaboration, with over 100 members based at 58 institutes across five continents.
It is now the largest publicly searchable and standardised database on animal social behaviour.
The network is introduced in a new research paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
"This is really about shifting towards a more collaborative approach where researchers across different labs, institutions and even continents come together to tackle big questions," said Dr Delphine De Moor, from the University of Exeter's Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour.
"Through this community effort, we've brought together social data on 61 macaque populations from 14 species, representing data documenting the social lives of over 3,000 individual macaques.
"Such large-scale collaborations promote a culture of sharing within the research community, incentivising researchers to contribute their data."
The new paper describes the establishment of MacaqueNet, from the first steps to creating a large-scale collective, to the creation of a cross-species collaborative database.
With many components openly accessible -- and all data available on request -- MacaqueNet can act as a fully replicable template for other similar databases in the future.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Exeter. Original written by Alex Morrison. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Delphine De Moor, Macaela Skelton, Federica Amici, Malgorzata E. Arlet, Krishna N. Balasubramaniam, Sébastien Ballesta, Andreas Berghänel, Carol M. Berman, Sofia K. Bernstein, Debottam Bhattacharjee, Eliza Bliss‐Moreau, Fany Brotcorne, Marina Butovskaya, Liz A. D. Campbell, Monica Carosi, Mayukh Chatterjee, Matthew A. Cooper, Veronica B. Cowl, Claudio De la O, Arianna De Marco, Amanda M. Dettmer, Ashni K. Dhawale, Joseph J. Erinjery, Cara L. Evans, Julia Fischer, Iván García‐Nisa, Gwennan Giraud, Roy Hammer, Malene F. Hansen, Anna Holzner, Stefano Kaburu, Martina Konečná, Honnavalli N. Kumara, Marine Larrivaz, Jean‐Baptiste Leca, Mathieu Legrand, Julia Lehmann, Jin‐Hua Li, Anne‐Sophie Lezé, Andrew MacIntosh, Bonaventura Majolo, Laëtitia Maréchal, Pascal R. Marty, Jorg J. M. Massen, Risma Illa Maulany, Brenda McCowan, Richard McFarland, Pierre Merieau, Hélène Meunier, Jérôme Micheletta, Partha S. Mishra, Shahrul A. M. Sah, Sandra Molesti, Kristen S. Morrow, Nadine Müller‐Klein, Putu Oka Ngakan, Elisabetta Palagi, Odile Petit, Lena S. Pflüger, Eugenia Polizzi di Sorrentino, Roopali Raghaven, Gaël Raimbault, Sunita Ram, Ulrich H. Reichard, Erin P. Riley, Alan V. Rincon, Nadine Ruppert, Baptiste Sadoughi, Kumar Santhosh, Gabriele Schino, Lori K. Sheeran, Joan B. Silk, Mewa Singh, Anindya Sinha, Sebastian Sosa, Mathieu S. Stribos, Cédric Sueur, Barbara Tiddi, Patrick J. Tkaczynski, Florian Trebouet, Anja Widdig, Jamie Whitehouse, Lauren J. Wooddell, Dong‐Po Xia, Lorenzo von Fersen, Christopher Young, Oliver Schülke, Julia Ostner, Christof Neumann, Julie Duboscq, Lauren J. N. Brent. MacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaboration. Journal of Animal Ecology, 2025; 94 (4): 519 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14223
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