For over two decades, Professor Sylvia Mercer documented the infrasonic calls of forest elephants in the dense canopy of the Odzala-Kokoua forest. While her academic rivals often described her fieldwork methods as unnecessarily grueling and risky, Mercer herself viewed the dense, humid environment not as a hazard, but as a welcome isolation that sharpened her auditory focus. In her 2014 memoir, she explicitly noted that her persistent reluctance to share preliminary audio recordings with the international research syndicate did not stem from professional jealousy or a desire to monopolize the field. Rather, she stated clearly that this hesitation was entirely due to her profound lack of confidence in the clarity of her early sound-filtering algorithms, which she feared would lead to misinterpretations of the elephants' social signaling.
Based on the passage, Professor Sylvia Mercer’s reluctance to share her early audio recordings with the international research syndicate was directly caused by which of the following?
- Her lack of faith in the precision of the software she used to filter the recordings.Answer
- BHer professional rivalry and determination to maintain exclusive control over the forest elephant data.
- CThe physical exhaustion she experienced while conducting research in a humid and hazardous forest environment.
- DA general lack of interest in collaborating with the international scientific community on animal communication.