When the New Year of the Monkey dawned in China so did a new exotic pet trend. The internet has been flooded with pictures of pygmy marmosets or “thumb monkeys.” These little creatures are capturing the hearts and imaginations of wealthy Chinese and they are being snapped up at an alarming rate for $4.500 a piece. The new trend has conservationists and primate scientists worried and sad because these tiny animals hardly ever survive in captivity.
Pygmy marmosets weigh around 100 grams or about the same weight as 20 US nickels. They are the world’s smallest monkeys and they are native to the rainforests of South America’s western Amazon basin. They live in groups of about a dozen individual monkeys. Although they are not yet on the endangered species list they are declining in numbers-largely because of the pet trade.
Researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of primates are being trafficked annually in Peru alone according to a study completed and published last year in The American Journal of Primatology. Pygmy marmosets are the second most trafficked primate species and account for 13% of all primates being sold for pets and used as bushmeat in Peruvian markets.
Even though Peru enacted a ban in the 1970’s on the exportation of primates there has been a lack of enforcement and the levels today of primate exports are believed to be about the same as the levels prior to enactment of the ban.
Ir seems that not all of China’s thumb monkeys are imported. China appears to have established domestic breeding stock. Unfortunately most of them will die because people lack the knowledge to adequately care for them.
According to biologist Clifford Warwick “Wild animal species differ substantially from domesticated animals and have a low adaptability to captivity. Stress from handling, transporting, or confinement in cages can often lead to early mortalities. Moreover, insufficient diets or inadequate thermal and humidity regimes can also result in deaths. The industry accepts high mortality rates because animals are cheap to source and the industry is dependent on mass sales and annual turnover/attrition.
In an analysis Warwick conducted with colleagues they found that approximately 70% of exotic animals used for trade die at the wholesaler.
People that post “cute” pictures and share them on social media only help to inflame the illegal trading of exotic animals by encouraging others to go out and buy their own trendy pets. This boosts the market and increases demand for the trafficking of primates and other exotic wildlife. News agencies promoting the glamorization of pygmy marmosets as pets are not helping the situation either.
Wildlife trade is nothing new in China. China also has big problems with the trafficking of illegally harvested animal parts that come from highly endangered species for traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese animal welfare advocates are working hard to establish stronger protection laws that would prohibit illegal and unethical animal practices.