In full swing: assessment of trade in orang-utans and ... - WWF UK

identification, we followed the key provided by Geissmann (1995), along with photographic updates (www.gibbons.de)
and photographs in Rowe (1996). Identification was not always straightforward and in most of the wildlife rescue
centres and some of the zoos, we consulted staff about the species' identity to confirm our identification or to obtain
additional information.
The two species of orang-utan are generally more easily
identified, although phenotypic variation can be large and it is
not always easy to separate the two species. This is true for all
age-classes, although in general, the older individuals are more
easily distinguished. Hence, these problems in identification, as
with the gibbons, may somewhat cloud the accuracy regarding
which orang-utan species is entering the trade chain. Despite
large morphological and genetic differences, the two taxa were
until recently generally considered conspecific and often in
older reports, the two taxa were not differentiated (and hence
were generally listed as Pongo pygmaeus, the name now used
for Bornean Orang-utans only). This may result in an underreporting
of P. abelii, especially in the older reports, although in
those instances where it was possible to check the species
identity, P. pygmaeus was far more common than P. abelii.
Methodology for Analysis
Sumtran Orang-utan Pongo abelii
Credit: ChrisR. Shepherd/TRAFFIC Southeast Asia
Wildlife trade involves the buying and selling of wild animals and plants, their products and derivatives, in exchange for
money and/or other goods. In the course of this survey, many private owners claimed that they had received their pet
gibbon or pet orang-utan as a gift. Beside the fact that some of these claims may not be completely true, although gifts
do not require any monetary exchange, few people are truly altruistic, and as such, most gifts can be considered
payments of a sort. Thus, in this assessment, gibbons or orang-utans that were at one time or another received as gifts,
are included in the analysis of ‘trade’.
In principle, if someone (illegally) catches a Javan Gibbon in the forest behind his house and keeps it as a pet, in the
strictest sense, this animal has not entered the trade network. The same can be said for a gibbon or an orang-utan that
has been caught in Sumatra or Kalimantan, and transported home to Java or Bali by the catcher. Since these are (very)
rare occurrences, and in order not to unnecessarily complicate the picture, the central premise of this assessment is that
all gibbons and orang-utans encountered in private hands or that have been brought to wildlife rescue centres, have at
one stage or another been part of the wildlife trade chain. This can be said for most of the gibbons and orang-utans in
Javan and Balinese zoological gardens as well, with the exception of those that were bred in captivity.
All the data were entered in a database for this report, with each of the individuals receiving entries on origin, current
location, dates, prices, fate, legal follow-up in cases of confiscation, if any, etc. As indicated above, there are real
problems with species identification, and often there were discrepancies in the data sets. In many zoos, some of the
species were misidentified or were identified only to the generic level. Likewise, in many reports, not all individuals
were identified to the species level, or were only tentatively identified pending more study (e.g., Malone, 2001, Malone
et al., 2002b). Some of the most obvious misidentifications were either omitted from the analysis or pooled under a more
general entry (e.g., Hylobates spp.).
IN FULL SWING:ASSESSMENT OF TRADE IN ORANGUTANS AND GIBBONS ON JAVA AND BALI,INDONESIA 14