Science fuels illegal reptile trade

For every reptile sitting decoratively in a living room terrarium, other members of the same species have in many cases died — already during capture, transport, or at the dealer’s. Researchers warn that endangered species remain easy to obtain.

Despite efforts to regulate the international reptile trade, thousands of species can still be ordered online with little oversight.

As a team led by Alice Hughes from the Chinese Academy of Sciences found, around 3,900 reptile species are available for purchase online. That amounts to roughly 36% of all known species worldwide, as the researchers report in the journal «Nature Communications».

Gaps in international efforts to regulate the wildlife trade mean that a large number of species go unmonitored. Three quarters of the trade involves reptiles not covered by international regulations — among which are nonetheless endangered species such as the Speckled Cape tortoise (Homopus signatus) and the Seychelles tiger chameleon (Calumma tigris).

In at least 21 species, the researchers explain, the entire wild population has been wiped out by traders who used scientific publications about their locations to track them down. A number of other populations have declined as a result of excessive collection for the trade.

For their study, the scientists cross-referenced data from around 150 online reptile dealers with information from two international wildlife trade databases (CITES and LEMIS). Around half of the recorded animals had been caught in the wild and then offered for sale. The researchers identified Vietnam as the main source for some of the most critically threatened species. Most buyers, meanwhile, come from Europe and North America.

According to the authors, certain reptile species could become the next victims of the ongoing biodiversity crisis if the effects of the legal but unregulated trade are not mitigated. Animal welfare organizations have long warned against purchasing reptiles: many animals die during transport or at the dealer's, and wild populations are being threatened.

There is an increasing amount of ever more accessible data on endangered or newly discovered species. Experts have been warning scientists for years about making detailed habitat information for such species publicly available. This data is also being used by poachers and smugglers. The Chinese leopard gecko (Goniurosaurus luii) is frequently cited as a notorious example: after its first scientific description, the animals went extinct in their habitat within months. According to experts, the trade in these animals was primarily responsible for the end of the wild population.

Similar examples of species being significantly decimated or even wiped out within months of a publication about them were reported some time ago in the journal “Science”. According to the report, reptiles were frequently affected.