Overrepresentation of flagship species in primate documentaries and opportunities for promoting biodiversity

Abstract

Documentary films are intended to engage a broad audience and can be effective outreach tools for raising awareness of global biodiversity and conservation issues. We screened 210 films and recorded the duration that each primate species was on screen to evaluate their representation in documentaries and to assess factors potentially driving biases within these depictions. We expected that flagship species would be overrepresented such that: 1) apes would be more frequently included in documentaries than other primate taxa, 2) Critically Endangered and Endangered species would be more frequently included in documentaries than those of less concern, and 3) large-bodied primates would have more on-screen time than smaller-bodied primates. Due to factors affecting the accessibility of species, we hypothesized that: 4) species of Least Concern would be overrepresented, and 5) diurnal and cathemeral primates would be overrepresented compared to nocturnal primates. We found that documentary films portray only a fraction of primate biodiversity. Only a third of primate species are portrayed in documentaries, and these tend to be large flagship species and easily filmed species. African apes were overrepresented compared to other primate taxa. Endangered and Least Concern species were overrepresented, whereas Vulnerable and Near Threatened species were underrepresented. Larger-bodied species and non-nocturnal primates were featured in more films and had longer on-screen times than smaller or nocturnal primates. Our findings suggest that audiences may benefit from the collaboration of filmmakers and scientists, which would likely result in greater species representation and more comprehensive coverage of relevant conservation issues.