There are Zarkovs lurking in every field. Here’s Mark Witton on the cranks of the palaeontological world.
Like many popular sciences, palaeontology attracts individuals harbouring what can kindly be called ‘alternative’ or ‘fringe’ ideas: interpretations of evolutionary relationships, animal biomechanics or other facets of palaeobiology that contrast with ‘mainstream’ science. Such individuals are generally referred to as “cranks” – a term defined at Wikipedia as “a person who holds an unshakable belief that most of his or her contemporaries consider to be false”. While most crank palaeontology is confined to obscure literature or forgotten corners of the internet, and is therefore pretty harmless, some cranks are major sources of misinformation thanks to their prominent, professional-looking websites, deals with mainstream book publishers, or careers in public outreach exercises.
Cranks are thus a real issue for palaeontological educators and science communicators. Students, teachers and naive members of the public are all potential victims of crankery, and many of us have witnessed crank media being embraced or shared by well-meaning individuals. Among those of us interested in science and outreach, cranks are a semi-regular topic of conversation: how do we combat their miseducation? Ignore them? Engage them on social media? Take them on in public debates? I don’t know that there’s a right answer, but one approach we can use is helping less experienced individuals recognise crankery when they find it. As with most peddlers of alternative ideas and pseudoscience, palaeontological cranks have characteristic behaviours and interests that stand out quickly once you learn what they are, and this can only help us avoid being hoodwinked by their unique brand of miseducation.
This, then, is my attempt to prime readers for recognising palaeontological crankery. In the interests of making this article as accessible as possible I’ve attempted to use easily understood, plain-English throughout. I’m dividing the post in two: first, we’ll outline the commonest subjects of palaeontological crankery, so as to let readers know when to be extra alert for crank output; and in the second section, we’ll look at some crank red flags which should set our sceptical systems to maximum alert. It’s worth noting before we dive in that I’m only concerned with ‘true’ palaeontological cranks here, and will not be tackling young earth creationism, evolution deniers or palaeo-themed cryptozoology. Those are all worthy topics but are well beyond our scope today. I’m also going to generally avoid naming and linking to specific cranks or sources in this article, on grounds that any publicity is good publicity.