What Happens to Science When Model Organisms Become Endangered?

The long-tailed macaque and pig-tailed macaque are now endangered in the wild according to the IUCN Red List, which says exports for monkey research are partially to blame.

Written byDan Robitzski

| 9 min read

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Photo of a long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) sitting on a rock overlooking a large body of water.

A long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) in Thailand

Image credit:NEIL CHALLIS

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Update (December 12): Following a string of indictments against a smuggling ring, Cambodia will no longer export long-tailed macaques, STAT reports.

Update (November 28): Science reports that the US Department of Justice broke up an operation that had been illegally exporting hundreds of endangered long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) from Cambodia. The macaques were being falsely labeled as “captive-bred” and were sent to the US for use in biomedical research. Science notes that the indictment may exacerbate ongoing macaque shortages.

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and southern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) have emerged as important model organisms, especially for research on infectious diseases. While not quite as popular with scientists as their cousin, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), both species provide unique insights into difficult-to-study viruses, including HIV and SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately, in July the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated its Red List designations for both species, shifting them from ...

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Meet the Author

Dan Robitzski
Dan is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles who joined The Scientist as a reporter and editor in 2021. Ironically, Dan’s undergraduate degree and brief career in neuroscience inspired him to write about research rather than conduct it, culminating in him earning a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University in 2017. In 2018, an Undark feature Dan and colleagues began at NYU on a questionable drug approval decision at the FDA won first place in the student category of the Association of Health Care Journalists' Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. Now, Dan writes and edits stories on all aspects of the life sciences for the online news desk, and he oversees the “The Literature” and “Modus Operandi” sections of the monthly TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. Read more of his work at danrobitzski.com.
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