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Rising internet-based trade in the Critically
Endangered ploughshare tortoise Astrochelys
yniphora in Indonesia highlights need for improved
enforcement of CITES
JOHN MORGAN and S ERENE CHNG
Abstract The Critically Endangered ploughshare tortoise
Astrochelys yniphora, endemic to Madagascar, is one of
the rarest tortoises. Despite its protection under Malagasy
national law and featuring in Appendix I of CITES, heigh-
tened interest from reptile collectors over recent decades
has expedited the scale of poaching to critical levels. Illegal
traders are now turning to online retail platforms and social
media to sell this species. We present data from a -month
study conducted by TRAFFIC in of online trade in
ploughshare tortoises in Indonesia during –.We
identified advertisements selling ploughshare tor-
toises from sellers. Fifty-six percent of the advertisements
were located on forums or online retail sites and %on
social media. Since advertisements on social media in-
creased steadily, to .%in. Seventy-five percent of
the advertisements were from sellers based in Indonesia,
% of which were from Jakarta. Prices were USD –
,. The internet provides Indonesian traders with a
means to sell protected wildlife comparatively safely and
easily. The abundance of illegally sourced ploughshare tor-
toises openly on offer in online trade in Indonesia highlights
a disregard for the law among Indonesian importers and
their exporting counterparts. A re-evaluation by CITES of
Indonesia’s existing legislation is necessary. Devoid of a
sound legal framework and sufficient enforcement to up-
hold these laws, there is no deterrent for traders of plough-
share tortoises and other non-native, CITES-listed species.
Keywords Astrochelys yniphora, Indonesia, Madagascar,
ploughshare tortoise, social media, wildlife trade
Introduction
The keeping and collecting of exotic pets is becoming
ever more fashionable, with the rarest species being es-
pecially sought after (Slone et al., ; Courchamp et al.,
; Wilson-Wilde, ; Lavorgna, ). A consumer’s
social status may be increased significantly by the acquisi-
tion of rare species, which are often associated with attri-
butes such as money, power and skill (Hall et al., ).
Accordingly, an estimated % of the wildlife trade in recent
years is purported to be driven by demand for exotic pets
(Nijman & Shepherd, ; Nijman et al., ; Baker
et al., ).
The angonoka, or ploughshare tortoise Astrochelys yni-
phora, endemic to Madagascar, is one of the rarest tortoises,
with an estimated ,, individuals remaining in the wild
(Leuteritz & Pedrono, ; Kiester et al., ). The species
is categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red
List (Leuteritz & Pedrono, ; Rhodin et al., ), and ac-
cording to a joint statement produced at the th Meeting of
the Conference of the Parties to CITES, potentially as few as
adults remain. Habitat destruction is undoubtedly a
prominent factor in the decline of this species but overex-
ploitation is a more severe and immediate threat (Pedrono
& Smith, ; Raghavan et al., ). Despite being pro-
tected under Malagasy national law since and included
in Appendix I of CITES () since , the ploughshare
tortoise is at continued risk from poaching for the pet trade
(Walker, ). Its unique beauty, ever-increasing rarity and
value have resulted in heightened international interest
from reptile collectors and enthusiasts since the s,
which has expedited the scale of poaching to critical levels
(Pedrono & Smith, ; Currylow, ).
There appears to be a significant market demand for
ploughshare tortoises in South-east Asia, where they have
regularly been reported on sale in markets in Indonesia,
Malaysia and Thailand (Nijman & Shepherd, ;Stengel
et al., ;Nijmanetal.,;Walker,; Kiester et al.,
). In these countries an increasing number of wealthy
collectors of exotic wildlife can purchase protected and threa-
tened species with relative ease because of less-than-adequate
policing (Nijman & Shepherd, ).
The trade in ploughshare tortoises and other protected
wildlife is likely to have been exacerbated by the advent of
online trade (Alves et al., ; Kiester et al., ;
Lavorgna, ; Chng & Bouhuys, ). The introduction
of new technologies with which anyone can access the inter-
net cheaply and easily, coupled with the anonymous nature
of online trade, has created a comparably easy and secure
selling environment not only for established wildlife dealers
JOHN MORGAN and SERENE CHNG (Corresponding author) TRAFFIC, Southeast
Asia Regional Office, Unit 3-2, 1st Floor, Jalan SS23/11, Taman SEA, 47400
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. E-mail serene.chng@traffic.org
Received August . Revision requested October .
Accepted February .
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but also for individual private sellers (IFAW, ,),
and a substantial proportion of wildlife trafficking now ap-
pears to be dependent upon the internet (IFAW, ,;
Wu, ; INTERPOL, ). Ploughshare tortoises have
been observed for sale on internet forums in China,
Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand since at least
(Walker, ; Kiester et al., ). The speed at
which commercial internet activity has developed since
the mid s has left many of the international laws relat-
ing to online trade outdated and insufficient (Wu, ;
IFAW, ).
Since the internet first came into mainstream use in the
mid s Indonesia has seen an exponential rise in the
number of users (Hill & Sen, ). Of a population of nearly
million people there were million internet users in
Indonesia at the end of . Indonesians are amongst the
most prolific users of social media, particularly Facebook,
outside the USA (Scheepers et al., ). With illegal traders
worldwide now turning to online retail platforms and social
media to sell their products (Lavorgna, ; Krishnasamy &
Stoner, ), it is likely that Indonesia has followed suit,
given its history of illegal wildlife trade, and high levels of
social media usage (Shepherd et al., ; Nijman, ).
Indonesia’s national laws relating to the regulation of
exploitation of wildlife and wildlife products are com-
prehensive. Licences are required from the Ministry of
Forestry and Environment (Kementerian Lingkungan
Hidup dan Kehutanan) for any harvesting, transportation
or distribution of wildlife. Since Indonesia has also
been a party to CITES in an effort to regulate international
wildlife trade (Soehartono & Mardiastuti, ). Despite
having a well-developed legal framework for the protection
of Indonesian species, a loophole is evident when dealing
with non-native species.
Previous reports revealed that ploughshare tortoises have
been sold online in Indonesia (Walker, ; Kiester et al.,
); however, the scale and magnitude of this online
trade is not yet known. This -month study, conducted dur-
ing August–December , was the first systematic attempt
to uncover and document the online trade in ploughshare
tortoises in Indonesia during –. We aimed to assess
the scale and severity of the problem, and the potential
threat it could pose to the survival of the species, and high-
light the challenges for management and regulation of the
trade.
Methods
We conducted an online study of the trade in ploughshare
tortoises in Indonesia during August–December .
Google Adwords were used to identify the most popular
search terms in Indonesian relating to the sale of plough-
share tortoises: jual and dijual (to sell), and yniphora,ynip
and angonoka (ploughshare tortoise). These were input into
the Google Indonesia (Google, ) search engine to locate
all advertisements and posts during –. Separate
searches were conducted on Facebook and Instagram, as
these did not appear in the original Google searches. In
Facebook we searched using the same terms, and selected
the first groups and profile pages that were identified
to be selling tortoises and freshwater turtles. In Instagram
we used hashtags (#dijual, #yniphora and #angonoka) to
narrow down searches. We conducted only manual searches
of these selected groups and individual pages. No automated
web scrapers were used.
We carried out hours per week of web searching; time
spent collecting background information on the advertise-
ments was in addition to this. We recorded information
only where there was a definite intent of sale in the adver-
tisements. We investigated all advertisements where these
terms appeared, and collected information on the location,
language, price, and the number and size of individuals ad-
vertised. No personal data about the sellers were collected
and no interaction with sellers took place. When sizes
were not given in the advertisement’s description we esti-
mated the size from the photographs provided. Based on
the information obtained in the advertisements, we grouped
the sellers into categories: private sellers, breeders and com-
mercial sellers. Private sellers were traders with no links to
commercial trade. Commercial sellers were traders who
were associated with either a physical shop or online store
(or both). Breeders were differentiated from commercial
traders as they either mentioned they were breeding tor-
toises or they discussed wholesale trade involving multiple
species. We also recorded whether there was any mention
of legal documents provided with the sale of the tortoise.
To ensure that we evaluated a reliable sample of indivi-
duals derived from the advertisements, we followed the
methodology of Krishnasamy & Stoner (). We at-
tempted to identify individual tortoises either from photo-
graphs accompanying the advertisements or from details of
size and price provided by the seller. Traders often posted
the same advertisement on multiple forums or Facebook
groups to increase the chance of sale. In these cases, only
the earliest advertisement was counted.
Results
During –, unique advertisements selling plough-
share tortoises were recorded. All advertisements were for
live pets. Forty-nine unique sellers were identified. The ma-
jority of sellers posted only on a single occasion, with only
sellers (%) posting more than one advertisement.
Fifty-seven percent of the advertisements were deemed to
be from private sellers ( individuals). Twelve sellers were
associated with one of online or offline stores and
2 J. Morgan and S. Chng
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accounted for % of all advertisements. Posts considered to
be from breeders comprised % of the advertisements and
featured nine sellers.
The total number of ploughshare tortoises on sale in all
advertisements (discounting reposts by the same indivi-
duals) was individuals, of which were in Indonesia.
According to the descriptions given in the advertisements
or the accompanying photographs, % of the advertise-
ments were selling only one tortoise, % were advertising
two individuals and % were selling three or more.
Of all the advertisements, %(n=) were located on for-
ums or online retail sites (Kaskus, Ceriwis and Carousell), %
(n = ) were on social media sites (Instagram and Facebook)
and one was found on a blog (HumbaLeehum ReptiLia;
Fig. ). From until the end of the Indonesian on-
line retail site Kaskus had advertisements for ploughshare
tortoises posted every year (n = ), Ceriwis had adver-
tisements exclusively in , and Carousell contained one
advertisement in .
Hashtag searches on Instagram uncovered , hits for
the various keywords individually, and yielded hits for
the keyword combination of ‘ploughshare tortoise’and
‘for sale’. On further inspection, of the posts were
found to be advertising the sale of ploughshare tortoises
and not just tagging random photographs. After discount-
ing the number of reposts, there were nine unique posts re-
maining, all of which occurred in .
Of Indonesia-based Facebook groups and communities
identified to be selling exotic wildlife, including tortoises,
contained at least one advertisement selling ploughshare tor-
toises. These included eight groups (two of which were
closed) and three profile pages. The groups that displayed ad-
vertisements for ploughshare tortoises had –, mem-
bers, with a median group size of ,. Advertisements on
Facebook, and social media in general, increased steadily
after , apart from a brief absence in (Fig ).
The majority of the advertisements were in Indonesian
(%), followed by English (%) and Thai (%). Seventy-
five percent of the advertisements were from sellers based
in Indonesia. Fifteen percent were from Cameroon (four
unique sellers) and only a single advertisement was identi-
fied from each of Malaysia, France and Thailand. Of the
Indonesian-based advertisements % were from Java and
% were from the capital, Jakarta (Fig. ).
Only a few advertisements provided prices for the
tortoises on sale; the majority of sellers asked potential buyers
to send their personal details so that the seller could contact
them privately. However, from the prices that were available
(n = ), ploughshare tortoises were sold for IDR – million
(USD –,), with a median price of IDR million
(USD ,). The tortoises on sale were .– cm long, with
a median size of cm (n = ). There was a strong positive
correlation between the size of the tortoise and the price (r
=
.,P=.).
Regarding the legality of the sales, only advertisements
from four sellers offered paperwork of some description
along with the purchase; however, the kind of paperwork
was never specified. The four sellers that offered paperwork
were all from the group deemed to be breeders. Only bree-
ders offered international shipping. The only other mention
of delivery was from a private seller in Jakarta, who stated he
would deliver the tortoise personally (presumably within
the Jakarta area).
Discussion
We identified advertisements selling ploughshare tor-
toises on Indonesian internet sites. However, we suspect that
some of the advertisements (offering tortoises in total)
may have been posted by fraudulent sellers, who receive
money from buyers but then disappear without supplying
the goods (Walker, ; Kiester et al., ; Lavorgna,
). Fake advertisements were likely to be from the
small number of sellers we categorized as breeders (n = ),
FIG. 1 (a) Number of advertisements for ploughshare tortoises
Astrochelys yniphora posted online during – in forums,
online retail sites, social media and blogs in Indonesia. (b)
Percentages of online advertisements for ploughshare tortoises in
Indonesia by year and by platform, showing a shift from forums
to social media platforms in and .
Internet trade in ploughshare tortoise 3
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who were operating from outside Indonesia (Cameroon,
France, Thailand and Malaysia), and therefore personal de-
livery would be impossible or impractical and would require
a money transfer. Background searches were conducted on
these breeders’websites, phone numbers and email ad-
dresses, but no additional information was found. Even if
these breeders were genuine, there is currently no legitimate
commercial captive breeding of ploughshare tortoises, and
the tortoises would probably have been wild-sourced
(Raghavan et al., ). If we accept that these advertise-
ments were fake, their removal leaves a total of plough-
share tortoises for sale.
The rest of the advertisements identified were presumed
to be genuine. Traders operating within Indonesia (the ma-
jority of which were in Jakarta) often asked potential buyers
to send their personal details so that they could discuss the
sale via phone and then meet personally to present the tor-
toise and make the exchange. In these cases traders would
find it difficult to con potential buyers if they did not have
the tortoise to sell.
The more conservative figure of individuals may still
be a significant underestimation of the actual internet-based
trade. We examined only a selection of Facebook groups
and profiles. There are potentially thousands more uniden-
tified Facebook profiles and groups that could also be selling
ploughshare tortoises. The manual monitoring of Facebook
is time consuming, especially considering not all posts were
accompanied by identifying keywords, such as the name of
the species (e.g. in some cases only photographs of the tor-
toise were posted under the text ‘want to sell’). Therefore,
the identification of all advertisements, in the absence of
an automated search tool that could also recognize the spe-
cies from photographs, was beyond the scope of this study.
For this reason, it is likely that many advertisements were
missed. Additionally, some advertisements may have been
deleted and some groups may have closed and could no
longer be viewed. Even during the study period we noticed
that a couple of posts were removed, presumably after the
sale had taken place. The extent of advertisement removal
is difficult to gauge but was potentially more of an issue
on social media. The online retail website Kaskus, for ex-
ample, has an archive version (Kaskus, ), which we uti-
lized to retrieve advertisements that had been removed from
the main site. As the use of social media to sell ploughshare
tortoises is a more recent phenomenon, the data collected
prior to this should be reasonably complete.
With an estimated population of ,, ploughshare
tortoises even the conservative figure of individuals on
sale is equivalent to % of the total remaining wild popula-
tion, and is therefore cause for concern. Furthermore, of
the tortoises offered for sale appeared to be based in
Indonesia. According to a survey conducted during –
(including both online and physical market data)
there were estimated to be six illegally held ploughshare tor-
toises in Indonesia (Kiester et al., ). This now appears to
be a significant underestimate, especially considering our
study did not include physical market data (Morgan, in
press). Searching sites in Indonesian increased the likeli-
hood of encountering advertisements that searches in
English alone would have missed. The Indonesian retail
sites (all in Indonesian), in particular Kaskus, featured
ploughshare tortoises for sale across the timespan of the
FIG. 2 Frequency and distribution of online advertisements selling ploughshare tortoises across the provinces of Indonesia.
4 J. Morgan and S. Chng
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survey. Regarding the longevity of postings, it appears the
majority remained online indefinitely, as advertisements
were identified as far back as . Manual searches on so-
cial media (Facebook and Instagram) also ensured that a
more complete set of advertisements were identified.
Since (but excluding ) the number of advertise-
ments on Facebook has increased gradually. A surge in
Instagram posts was also noted in , with none being
found prior to that year. A study of online trade in all species
of freshwater turtles and tortoises also reported that sales on
social media had risen sharply in both Indonesia and
Malaysia since (Bouhuys & Van Scherpenzeel, ).
In Indonesia the rise in the use of social media to sell
ploughshare tortoises (and other protected species) over
the last couple of years may be a result of increased pressure
from Indonesian conservation NGOs on retail websites and
platforms such as Kaskus and Tokobagus to ban or block the
sale of protected species. This lobbying resulted in Tokobagus
agreeing to block the sale of protected species on their web-
site in (Tejo, ). Although Kaskus is still displaying
advertisements for protected species (authors, pers. obs.,
April ), the open nature of the website means traders
can be easily identified and monitored. Sales on the
Ceriwis forum were found only in . The site was
founded in , so why there were so many posts (n = )
in that year is unclear. The reason the advertisements
stopped afterwards is that the site transformed from a retail
site to a news portal and forum.
Facebook is more difficult to monitor and regulate as
there is no easy and comprehensive way to run an auto-
mated search for keywords or photographs within groups
(Hinsley et al., ). Online traders can remain relatively
anonymous by setting up profiles specifically for trading,
and may also use code names to conceal the goods they
are selling (Lavorgna, ; Yu & Jia, ). Furthermore, al-
though most of the groups searched were open access, two
were closed groups that required permission to enter.
Closed groups provide cover for illegal traders, who can
use them to sell protected species easily and freely (Yu &
Jia, ; Krishnasamy & Stoner, ).
Our findings provide more evidence that the internet
and, more recently, social media are being used as a plat-
form for selling ploughshare tortoises and other wildlife in
Indonesia. Although the majority of the online advertise-
ments (%) were from established traders and breeders,
with links to online and offline stores, the significant pro-
portion of advertisements (%) from individual/private
sellers is of concern. Undoubtedly, the internet has a direct
impact on the trade in ploughshare tortoises by providing an
avenue for sellers that makes it easy to circumvent inter-
national and national wildlife laws, but it may also affect
the trade indirectly by increasing demand. Online advertise-
ments and photographs of ploughshare tortoises, particular-
ly in Facebook groups and on Instagram, were regularly
‘liked’and commented on by people who expressed envy
of the seller/owner of the tortoise. Comments included
mantap (Indonesian slang for perfection), super mewah
(very luxurious), kecil kuranya, harganya super gede
(small tortoise with a very high price), sangat langka (ex-
tremely rare) and astaga,ternyata ada di Indonesia juga,
beli di mana bro? (wow, in fact they are here in Indonesia
too, where did you buy it?). Such comments could increase
the desirability of ploughshare tortoises among tortoise col-
lectors. Furthermore, the potential influence of these com-
ments is significant, given that some of the groups have tens
of thousands of members. These social networks provide the
opportunity and platform for young enthusiasts or collec-
tors to become traders (Lavorgna, ).
The desirability and rarity of ploughshare tortoises is re-
flected in the prices advertised. The fact that collectors were
apparently willing to spend up to USD , (depending
on the size) for a single individual is an indicator not only
of their economic means. They regard the ploughshare tor-
toise, like other rare species, as a commodity that can be
used as a status symbol amongst fellow wildlife collectors
(Baker et al., ).
As ploughshare tortoises continue to be observed for sale
in pet shops, markets and reptile expos (Morgan, in press), it
remains uncertain whether online trade is replacing the
physical market trade in the species, as was the case with
the Indian star tortoise Geochelone elegans in Malaysia
(Chng & Bouhuys, ). What is apparent is that the inter-
net is being utilized increasingly and regularly by illegal tra-
ders as a means to sell the tortoises. The high demand and
trade in Indonesia, as indicated by our results, is undeniably
contributing to the poaching, smuggling and trading of this
species, and if not abated will lead to its extinction in the
wild.
Only the potentially fraudulent breeders group offered
any form of documentation in the advertisements and
only twice did people enquire in the comments about the
legality of the sale; both comments were in English and
both were ignored. It is unlikely, and within Indonesia im-
possible, that commercial sellers of ploughshare tortoises
have the correct documentation. Globally, there are
ploughshare tortoises known to be present at institutions
across five regions outside Madagascar (Raghavan et al.,
). All of these individuals were confiscated, and the ma-
jority have not yet reached sexual maturity and therefore no
breeding has been reported. Nevertheless, even if breeding
did occur, these individuals would be used for conservation
purposes and not for commercial sales. In a captive-
breeding programme in Madagascar implemented by the
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust was compromised by
the theft of individuals, only half of which were recovered
(Kiester et al., ).
The fact that large numbers of illegally sourced plough-
share tortoises are still appearing openly in online trade in
Internet trade in ploughshare tortoise 5
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Indonesia highlights a disregard for the law by Indonesian
importers and their counterparts in exporting countries.
Improved cooperation and coordination amongst relevant
agencies, the ministry and NGOs at both national and inter-
national levels is required to help stop this international
trade. Indonesia is currently rated as Category by CITES,
which means that the national legislation was deemed to be
sufficient for effective CITES implementation. Indonesia’s
upgrade to Category was based on the establishment of
Ministerial Decree (Surat Keputusan) No. of
(Administration Directive for the Harvest or Capture and
Distribution of Specimens of Wild Plants and Animals).
This decree stipulates the regulation of the harvest, domestic
transport, domestic possession, domestic trade and inter-
national transport of wildlife included in the CITES
Appendices (Samedi & Hardjanti, ). In practice, how-
ever, Ministerial Decrees in Indonesia hold little weight in
the complex hierarchical legal system and are often over-
looked or even ignored (Dirhamsyah, ). Cases of wild-
life crime in Indonesia predominantly refer to Act No. of
on the Conservation of Living Natural Resources and
their Ecosystem, which deals with native species on the na-
tional protected list. Essentially, if a species is not on this list,
law enforcement agents are not obliged to act (Stengel et al.,
; USAID, ).
During surveys of freshwater turtles and tortoises carried
out in Jakarta by TRAFFIC in , discussion with a trader
openly selling ploughshare tortoises revealed that he was
fully aware that the tortoises had been smuggled illegally
into the country. Another trader mentioned that he was
more fearful of selling protected Indonesian species than
non-native CITES-listed species (Morgan, in press).
The shortcomings of the current legislation, which sup-
posedly supports CITES implementation in Indonesia,
allow traders to sell threatened and protected species, such
as the ploughshare tortoise, openly, with minimal fear of
prosecution. Until Ministerial Decree No. of is re-
cognized by law enforcement agents as a valid legal docu-
ment, or until it is upgraded to an official Act or Law, the
open trade in non-native, CITES-listed species at a domestic
level is likely to continue. A re-evaluation by CITES of
Indonesia’s existing legislation is necessary. Devoid of a
sound legal framework and sufficient enforcement to up-
hold these laws, there is no deterrent for traders of plough-
share tortoises and other non-native, CITES-listed species to
refrain from their illegal activities.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Darwin Initiative (through partners Durrell
Wildlife Conservation Trust) and the Turtle Conservancy
for generously supporting this work. We are also grateful
to Chris Shepherd, Stephanie Pendry, Richard Thomas
and two anonymous reviewers who kindly provided sugges-
tions for the improvement of this article.
Author contributions
JM carried out the data collection and subsequent analysis,
and was the main author of the paper. SC assisted in the
study design and development of the methodology, pro-
vided guidance on the report outline and contributed to
the writing.
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Biographical sketches
JOHN MORGAN is interested in Chelonians, particularly Testudines,
and their conservation. His main focus is on mitigating the illegal
trade in wildlife. SERENE CHNG is documenting and tackling the illegal
wildlife trade in South-east Asia, particularly focusing on live reptiles
and birds.
Internet trade in ploughshare tortoise 7
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