A Framework to Analyze Primate Species Vulnerability to Trade in Urban Markets

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.