I doubt most of you are unaware, but the reptile trade in America and the EU is quite the booming business. As Valdez states in Using Google Trends to Determine Current, Past, and Future Trends in the Reptile Pet Trade, “In the U.S. alone, reptile ownership has more than doubled during the previous two decades, with an estimated 4.5 million homes currently containing at least one pet reptile.”
I’m one of those 4.5 million (and I’m sure some of you are as well). And most of us pet owners are the owners of very common species, such as bearded dragons, ball pythons, leopard geckos, etc. But how do we regulate those who want something more exotic and possibly endangered? How do we find out what reptiles are becoming more popular to consumers?
Well, this article suggests
that by looking at Google trends, we can see exactly where the reptile pet
trade is heading, and what reptiles we need to be on the lookout for.
By comparing Google trends to online surveys, Valdez was able to get a clear idea of where the trade was heading, and fortunately, it looks like endangered, wild-caught species are on the decline recently, and your easy to handle, medium-sized, docile cold-blooded buddies are still very much on the up and up.
Now, this probably seems like small news compared to other articles I could’ve reviewed, but I think what struck me about this one (other than the fact I’m somewhat personally invested in the topic) is the way this research was conducted. Who would have thought that google trends could actually have some significance in reptile conservation? I think that’s pretty valuable knowledge and an interesting new technique for scientific studies.
Valdez, Jose W. “Using Google Trends to Determine Current, Past, and Future Trends in the Reptile Pet Trade.” Animals, vol. 11, no. 3, 2021, p. 676., https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030676.
2 comments:
What were there main findings? What species are trending as pets? Do you think it could it be possible to use this research approach to improve herp conservation in some way?
The main findings were that wild-caught and rare species of reptiles were trending downward and that species like bearded dragons, leopard geckos, ball pythons, corn snakes etc, were on the up and up.
I think that just knowing the demand for these reptiles is somewhat helpful to conservation organizations. As we saw during the field trip at the turtle survival center, security might need to get beefed up for certain endangered species, and knowing what the trends are can be useful in that regard.
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