I mean, I've heard it also defined as non-human behaviors, which is IRL functionally equivalent to animals, but in an SFF context could be seen as a bigger umbrella? Dunno. I've used xenobiology and xenoarchaeology, but neither of those are quite on the mark. Punt and go with xenology (-:

Enh. In the end, I'm definitely passing the buck back to the author, but I'm going to suggest xenoanthropology and xenology, then make THEM choose. XD