A Framework to Analyze Primate Species Vulnerability to Trade in Urban Markets
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Live primates are increasingly commodified and appropriated as inputs into markets, both at the international and domestic scales, and across physical and online platforms. We present a qualitative and quantitative framework that integrates concepts in primatology and conservation criminology toward understanding the characteristics that make different primate species vulnerable to trade in domestic urban markets. Our market-stage and live animal-focused framework relates primate characteristics to both supply- (i.e., opportunity-based) and demand-side (i.e., consumer-driven) variables. Supply-side variables include concealability, abundance, accessibility, and removability, while demand-side variables include processability, replaceability, usability, enjoyability, and value. We empirically test our framework using representative data from a specific urban market and time period in Indonesia (Medan, Sumatra; 1997-2008) to illustrate its utility in explaining why more individuals of certain species are detected in markets over others, and to elucidate the roles of supply- and demand-side drivers of trade within the focal context. Results from a principal component analysis show that both supply- (high abundance, accessibility, and concealability) and demand-side variables (high usability/ecological value, low rarity) explained the high detection of macaques and lorises in the wildlife markets of Medan during 1997-2008 when compared to the lower numbers of leaf monkey and gibbon species. This primate-focused conservation criminology framework is flexible and can be adapted to examine live primates in legal and illicit trade across other primate-range countries and scales, and in contexts beyond physical urban markets such as online fora.
Source: American Journal of Primatology
DOI: 10.1002/ajp.70102
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,330
OpenAlex ID: W4417092046