In June, a committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced that long-tailed macaques (LTMs) will continue to be classified as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species while the organization awaits a revised scientific assessment. LTMs were listed as endangered in March 2022 based on a scientific assessment that predicted at least a 50 percent decline in the population over the next 40 years, due in part to accelerating demand from the biomedical industry.
Red List designations influence species protections established under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); thus, the US biomedical industry likely views an endangered designation as a threat to its lucrative LTM import pipeline. (See AWI Quarterly, fall 2023.) In September 2023, the National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR)—an animal research industry lobbying group—filed a formal petition with the IUCN challenging the endangered designation, stating that the IUCN “did not reach objective scientific conclusions” regarding LTMs’ population status.
After reviewing NABR’s petition, the IUCN committee found that “there appears to be adequate evidence to support the current EN [endangered] listing.” However, it took issue with some of the calculations, data interpretation, and language used in the 2022 scientific assessment. Consequently, the committee requested that the original assessors submit a revised assessment within eight months that addresses those concerns and incorporates scientific information that has become available since the 2022 assessment.
The most recent scientific information will likely only corroborate the initial conclusion that the LTM population is indeed in steep decline. One recent study—the first to compare population dynamics across multiple countries and regions—estimated that the LTM population has already declined by at least 80 percent over the past 35 years, adding sobering context to the outlook for decline going forward.