Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 1.2 Trade in long-tailed macaques (
Macaca fascicularis
)
Kaitlyn-Elizabeth Foley and Chris R. Shepherd
Long-tailed macaques (
Macaca fascicularis
) are heavily traded to supply
the demand for biomedical research, food and the pet trade. Presently little
is known of the impact this trade has on wild populations. Although popu-
lation numbers of long-tailed macaques are considered robust throughout
their distribution in Southeast Asia, it is a concern that over-harvesting and
unregulated trade is leading to population declines. Currently long-tailed
macaques are listed as being of Least Concern on the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of
Threatened Species (Ong and Richardson,
2008
), which determines the sta-
tus and conservation needs of a wide variety of species.
There are thirteen macaque species found in Southeast Asia, all of which
are listed under Appendix II of the Convention on the Trade of Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Trade of CITES Appendix-II listed
species requires an export or re-export permit, stating their origin, and must
be in accordance with any national legislation that is in place. This allows
countries to control and regulate the trade, and ensure that trade is not a threat
to the conservation of the species. Accurate numbers of individuals either
wild caught or captive bred in trade are unknown due to illegal trafficking
and laundering. It is suspected that many breeding farms export wild-caught
animals laundered as captive bred as this is less expensive. Laundering is sus-
pected in all
M. fascicularis
range states, but particularly so in major export-
ing countries: China, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
We evaluated known information on long-tailed macaque trade by col-
lecting data on international trade from the UNEP-WCMC CITES database
(www.unep-wcmc.org/citestrade, accessed on 1 February 2010) for 2004-8.
At the time of analyses, trade information for 2009 and 2010 was unavail-
able. The WCMC CITES trade database maintains all records of import
and export of CITES-listed species as reported to the CITES Secretariat by
participating countries. It is important to note however, that this data is not
representative of the entire trade of long-tailed macaques as illegal trade is
not documented.
The WCMC CITES trade database shows that the largest exporters of
long-tailed macaques are China, Indonesia, Mauritius, Philippines and
Vietnam; while the main importers are US, EU and China. Sources of
macaques were observed to be from mainly “captive bred,” “F1,” and “wild-
long-tailed macaques, imported over one hundred thousand live macaques
