John Young is an exceptionally talented naturalist, as anyone who has been out
in the field with him will attest. And he has indeed been involved in some
excellent work, for which he has earned admiration.
That in my view only makes the fig-parrot saga more puzzling - why would he
risk his reputation in this way? - and certainly no less disappointing. Greg's
scepticism seems to me at this stage to have been vindicated, and until such
time as John Young documents his claims further we should be thanking him for
preventing the further wastage of taxpayer's money.
The implications of this case are extremely serious. Young wasn't prepared to
divulge the location and presented the photographs as evidence; citing fear of
collectors exterminating the birds. Yet if he has indeed tampered with the
photographs, then specimens may be the only way claims such as these may be
trusted in the forseeable future.
I dearly wanted to believe this story but I was always wary of the idea of two
extremely rare and extremely similar species living sympatrically with each
other and concerned that the claims were being splashed about in the media with
scant consideration for the academic channels of proper documentation followed
by peer review.
John Young has said he has nothing to prove to anyone and will stand on his
record. That doesn't wash now - it's put up or shut up time. The rest of us
should not be afraid to call a serious case of attempted scientific fraud for
what it is, and I applaud Greg Roberts for reminding us all of the value of
sceptical inquiry. That is a journalist's responsibility. He has done his job
well.
Cheers - Andrew
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