Endangered Macaques Win Scientific Battle Despite Population Crisis

The long-tailed macaque faces a troubling paradox: while the species continues its slide toward extinction, it has scored a crucial victory for scientific integrity. In early October, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upheld the macaque’s endangered status, rejecting pressure from the U.S. National Association for Biomedical Research to downgrade the classification.

The biomedical lobby had argued that the endangered listing hindered vaccine and drug development, since laboratories depend heavily on these primates for testing. However, the IUCN’s decision was based on stark evidence: wild macaque populations have plummeted by up to 70% over the past three decades. The species was upgraded from “vulnerable” to “endangered” in 2022 after investigations revealed that wild monkeys were being illegally captured and laundered through supposed “captive-breeding” facilities across Southeast Asia.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically intensified demand for laboratory macaques. When China banned exports in 2020, Cambodia’s shipments nearly doubled. Investigations soon exposed a lucrative black market where wild-caught macaques were falsely labeled as captive-bred and funneled through state-connected farms to international buyers. While wild monkeys sell for a few hundred dollars, laboratory purchasers pay tens of thousands.

“I’m happy to see science prevail, but I’m not happy to see the long-tailed macaques endangered,” said Dr. Malene Friis Hansen of Aarhus University, who co-authored the IUCN assessment. “That we’ve pushed such an adaptive species to this stage should be an eye-opener.” Despite U.S. prosecutors alleging Cambodian officials’ involvement in the illegal trade, few have faced meaningful consequences while the industry continues to profit.