Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts

John Polisar; Charlotte Davies; Thais Morcatty; Mariana Da Silva; Song Zhang; Kurt Duchez; Julio Madrid; Ana Elisa Lambert; Ana Gallegos; Marcela Delgado; Ha Nguyen; Robert Wallace; Melissa Arias; Vincent Nijman; Jon Ramnarace; Roberta Pennell; Yamira Novelo; Damian Rumiz; Kathia Rivero; Yovana Murillo; Monica Nuñez Salas; Heidi E. Kretser; Adrian Reuter

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280039

Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts

John Polisar, Charlotte Davies, Thais Morcatty, Mariana Da Silva, Song Zhang, Kurt Duchez, Julio Madrid, Ana Elisa Lambert, Ana Gallegos, Marcela Delgado, Ha Nguyen, Robert Wallace, Melissa Arias, Vincent Nijman, Jon Ramnarace, Roberta Pennell, Yamira Novelo, Damian Rumiz, Kathia Rivero, Yovana MurilloMonica Nuñez Salas, Heidi E. Kretser, Adrian Reuter

Universidad del Pacífico

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article in a journal › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We conducted research to understand online trade in jaguar parts and develop tools of utility for jaguars and other species. Our research took place to identify potential trade across 31 online platforms in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Chinese, and Vietnamese. We identified 230 posts from between 2009 and 2019. We screened the images of animal parts shown in search results to verify if from jaguar; 71 posts on 12 different platforms in four languages were accompanied by images identified as definitely jaguar, including a total of 125 jaguar parts (50.7% posts in Spanish, 25.4% Portuguese, 22.5% Chinese and 1.4% French). Search effort varied among languages due to staff availability. Standardizing for effort across languages by dividing number of posts advertising jaguars by search time and number of individual searches completed via term/platform combinations changed the proportions the rankings of posts adjusted for effort were led by Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish. Teeth were the most common part; 156 posts offered at least 367 teeth and from these, 95 were assessed as definitely jaguar; 71 of which could be linked to a location, with the majority offered for sale from Mexico, China, Bolivia, and Brazil (26.8, 25.4, 16.9, and 12.7% respectively). The second most traded item, skins and derivative items were only identified from Latin America: Brazil (7), followed by Peru (6), Bolivia (3), Mexico (2 and 1 skin piece), and Nicaragua and Venezuela (1 each). Whether by number of posts or pieces, the most commonly parts were: teeth, skins/pieces of skins, heads, and bodies. Our research took place within a longer-term project to assist law enforcement in host countries to better identify potential illegal trade and presents a snapshot of online jaguar trade and methods that also may have utility for many species traded online.

Original language	English
Article number	e0280039
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	18
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280039
State	Published - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Polisar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Copyright: © 2023 Polisar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Keywords

Animals
Bolivia
Brazil
Mexico
Panthera
Peru
Conservation of Natural Resources
jaguar
endangered species
wildlife conservation
environment
rainforest

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1371/journal.pone.0280039

Cite this

Polisar, J., Davies, C., Morcatty, T., Da Silva, M., Zhang, S., Duchez, K., Madrid, J., Lambert, A. E., Gallegos, A., Delgado, M., Nguyen, H., Wallace, R., Arias, M., Nijman, V., Ramnarace, J., Pennell, R., Novelo, Y., Rumiz, D., Rivero, K., ... Reuter, A. (2023). Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts. PLoS ONE, 18(1), Article e0280039. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280039

@article{0d782997b9e64b989e54cf11f9fe54b2,

title = "Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts",

abstract = "We conducted research to understand online trade in jaguar parts and develop tools of utility for jaguars and other species. Our research took place to identify potential trade across 31 online platforms in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Chinese, and Vietnamese. We identified 230 posts from between 2009 and 2019. We screened the images of animal parts shown in search results to verify if from jaguar; 71 posts on 12 different platforms in four languages were accompanied by images identified as definitely jaguar, including a total of 125 jaguar parts (50.7% posts in Spanish, 25.4% Portuguese, 22.5% Chinese and 1.4% French). Search effort varied among languages due to staff availability. Standardizing for effort across languages by dividing number of posts advertising jaguars by search time and number of individual searches completed via term/platform combinations changed the proportions the rankings of posts adjusted for effort were led by Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish. Teeth were the most common part; 156 posts offered at least 367 teeth and from these, 95 were assessed as definitely jaguar; 71 of which could be linked to a location, with the majority offered for sale from Mexico, China, Bolivia, and Brazil (26.8, 25.4, 16.9, and 12.7% respectively). The second most traded item, skins and derivative items were only identified from Latin America: Brazil (7), followed by Peru (6), Bolivia (3), Mexico (2 and 1 skin piece), and Nicaragua and Venezuela (1 each). Whether by number of posts or pieces, the most commonly parts were: teeth, skins/pieces of skins, heads, and bodies. Our research took place within a longer-term project to assist law enforcement in host countries to better identify potential illegal trade and presents a snapshot of online jaguar trade and methods that also may have utility for many species traded online.",

keywords = "Animals, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Panthera, Peru, Conservation of Natural Resources, jaguar, endangered species, wildlife conservation, environment, rainforest",

author = "John Polisar and Charlotte Davies and Thais Morcatty and {Da Silva}, Mariana and Song Zhang and Kurt Duchez and Julio Madrid and Lambert, {Ana Elisa} and Ana Gallegos and Marcela Delgado and Ha Nguyen and Robert Wallace and Melissa Arias and Vincent Nijman and Jon Ramnarace and Roberta Pennell and Yamira Novelo and Damian Rumiz and Kathia Rivero and Yovana Murillo and {Nu{\~n}ez Salas}, Monica and Kretser, {Heidi E.} and Adrian Reuter",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Polisar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Polisar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0280039",

language = "English",

volume = "18",

journal = "PLoS ONE",

issn = "1932-6203",

publisher = "Public Library of Science",

number = "1",

}

Polisar, J, Davies, C, Morcatty, T, Da Silva, M, Zhang, S, Duchez, K, Madrid, J, Lambert, AE, Gallegos, A, Delgado, M, Nguyen, H, Wallace, R, Arias, M, Nijman, V, Ramnarace, J, Pennell, R, Novelo, Y, Rumiz, D, Rivero, K, Murillo, Y, Nuñez Salas, M, Kretser, HE & Reuter, A 2023, 'Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts', PLoS ONE, vol. 18, no. 1, e0280039. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280039

TY - JOUR

T1 - Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts

AU - Polisar, John

AU - Davies, Charlotte

AU - Morcatty, Thais

AU - Da Silva, Mariana

AU - Zhang, Song

AU - Duchez, Kurt

AU - Madrid, Julio

AU - Lambert, Ana Elisa

AU - Gallegos, Ana

AU - Delgado, Marcela

AU - Nguyen, Ha

AU - Wallace, Robert

AU - Arias, Melissa

AU - Nijman, Vincent

AU - Ramnarace, Jon

AU - Pennell, Roberta

AU - Novelo, Yamira

AU - Rumiz, Damian

AU - Rivero, Kathia

AU - Murillo, Yovana

AU - Nuñez Salas, Monica

AU - Kretser, Heidi E.

AU - Reuter, Adrian

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Polisar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright: © 2023 Polisar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2023/1

Y1 - 2023/1

N2 - We conducted research to understand online trade in jaguar parts and develop tools of utility for jaguars and other species. Our research took place to identify potential trade across 31 online platforms in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Chinese, and Vietnamese. We identified 230 posts from between 2009 and 2019. We screened the images of animal parts shown in search results to verify if from jaguar; 71 posts on 12 different platforms in four languages were accompanied by images identified as definitely jaguar, including a total of 125 jaguar parts (50.7% posts in Spanish, 25.4% Portuguese, 22.5% Chinese and 1.4% French). Search effort varied among languages due to staff availability. Standardizing for effort across languages by dividing number of posts advertising jaguars by search time and number of individual searches completed via term/platform combinations changed the proportions the rankings of posts adjusted for effort were led by Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish. Teeth were the most common part; 156 posts offered at least 367 teeth and from these, 95 were assessed as definitely jaguar; 71 of which could be linked to a location, with the majority offered for sale from Mexico, China, Bolivia, and Brazil (26.8, 25.4, 16.9, and 12.7% respectively). The second most traded item, skins and derivative items were only identified from Latin America: Brazil (7), followed by Peru (6), Bolivia (3), Mexico (2 and 1 skin piece), and Nicaragua and Venezuela (1 each). Whether by number of posts or pieces, the most commonly parts were: teeth, skins/pieces of skins, heads, and bodies. Our research took place within a longer-term project to assist law enforcement in host countries to better identify potential illegal trade and presents a snapshot of online jaguar trade and methods that also may have utility for many species traded online.

AB - We conducted research to understand online trade in jaguar parts and develop tools of utility for jaguars and other species. Our research took place to identify potential trade across 31 online platforms in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Chinese, and Vietnamese. We identified 230 posts from between 2009 and 2019. We screened the images of animal parts shown in search results to verify if from jaguar; 71 posts on 12 different platforms in four languages were accompanied by images identified as definitely jaguar, including a total of 125 jaguar parts (50.7% posts in Spanish, 25.4% Portuguese, 22.5% Chinese and 1.4% French). Search effort varied among languages due to staff availability. Standardizing for effort across languages by dividing number of posts advertising jaguars by search time and number of individual searches completed via term/platform combinations changed the proportions the rankings of posts adjusted for effort were led by Portuguese, Chinese, and Spanish. Teeth were the most common part; 156 posts offered at least 367 teeth and from these, 95 were assessed as definitely jaguar; 71 of which could be linked to a location, with the majority offered for sale from Mexico, China, Bolivia, and Brazil (26.8, 25.4, 16.9, and 12.7% respectively). The second most traded item, skins and derivative items were only identified from Latin America: Brazil (7), followed by Peru (6), Bolivia (3), Mexico (2 and 1 skin piece), and Nicaragua and Venezuela (1 each). Whether by number of posts or pieces, the most commonly parts were: teeth, skins/pieces of skins, heads, and bodies. Our research took place within a longer-term project to assist law enforcement in host countries to better identify potential illegal trade and presents a snapshot of online jaguar trade and methods that also may have utility for many species traded online.

KW - Animals

KW - Bolivia

KW - Brazil

KW - Mexico

KW - Panthera

KW - Peru

KW - Conservation of Natural Resources

KW - jaguar

KW - endangered species

KW - wildlife conservation

KW - environment

KW - rainforest

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147046440&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/80702e78-495a-35ff-8265-06074cae98cb/

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0280039

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0280039

M3 - Article in a journal

C2 - 36689405

AN - SCOPUS:85147046440

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 18

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

IS - 1

M1 - e0280039

ER -

Multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this