“Monkey influencers”: conservation culturomics of human-macaque (Macaca fascicularis) interactions

Conservation culturomics can offer insights into the online presence of threatened primate species, such as the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). The long-tailed macaque is the most commercially traded primate and increasingly exploited in the digital realm. By filtering content accessed via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), we identified and analyzed 1366 posts and links involving long-tailed macaques across three major platforms: YouTube (611 posts; 44.73 %), Flickr (201 posts; 14.71 %), and Google (554 links; 40.56 %). More than two thirds (66.62 %) of the content was categorized as ‘wildlife trade’, of which 51 % pertained to “Pet Trade”, 20 % to “Medical Trade”, 9 % to “Entertainment Trade”, and 21 % to “Other” content. The majority of the content analysed originated from Southeast Asian range countries, such as Indonesia and Thailand, where long-tailed macaques were frequently featured as part of unethical or exploitative content. Based on IP-addresses, most content originated from Indonesia, while the USA accounted for most viewers. In light of our findings, we emphasize the need to promote responsible online engagement to prevent negative consequences such as the normalization of some human–macaque interactions (e.g., in the pet trade) that may affect long-tailed macaque conservation and welfare. By leveraging digital methodologies, this paper contributes to the broader field of primate conservation, offering insights into future conservation measures employing machine learning.