Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Zoology Department, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon OX13 5 QL, United Kingdom.
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augrès Manor, Trinity, Jersey JE3 5BP, United Kingdom, and ICCS, Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot SL5 7PY, United Kingdom.
Conserv Biol. 2011 Dec;25(6):1220-1228. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01741.x. Epub 2011 Oct 3.
Spatially extensive patterns of bushmeat extraction (and the processes underlying these patterns) have not been explored. We used data from a large sample (n= 87) of bushmeat trading points in urban and rural localities in Nigeria and Cameroon to explore extraction patterns at a regional level. In 7,594 sample days, we observed 61,267 transactions involving whole carcasses. Rural and urban trading points differed in species for sale and in meat condition (fresh or smoked). Carcass price was principally associated with body mass, with little evidence that taxonomic group (primate, rodent, ungulate, or mammalian carnivore) affected price. Moreover, meat condition was not consistently associated with price. However, some individual species were more expensive throughout the region than would be expected for their size. Prices were weakly positively correlated with human settlement size and were highest in urban areas. Supply did not increase proportionally as human settlement size increased, such that per capita supply was significantly lower in urban centers than in rural areas. Policy options, including banning hunting of more vulnerable species (those that have low reproductive rates), may help to conserve some species consumed as bushmeat because carcass prices indicate that faster breeding, and therefore the more sustainable species, may be substituted and readily accepted by consumers.
我们利用来自尼日利亚和喀麦隆城乡地区大量（n=87）样本交易点的数据，在区域层面上探讨了采集模式。在 7594 个样本日中，我们观察到了 61267 笔涉及整只动物尸体的交易。农村和城市交易点的销售物种和肉类状况（新鲜或熏制）不同。动物尸体的价格主要与体重有关，几乎没有证据表明分类群（灵长类、啮齿类、有蹄类或哺乳动物食肉动物）会影响价格。此外，肉类状况并不总是与价格相关。然而，一些个别物种在整个地区的价格都比其体型所预期的要高。价格与人类聚居地的规模呈弱正相关，在城市地区最高。随着人类聚居地规模的增加，供应并没有成比例地增加，因此城市中心的人均供应明显低于农村地区。政策选择，包括禁止对繁殖率较低的脆弱物种（繁殖率较低的物种）进行狩猎，可能有助于保护一些作为丛林肉消费的物种，因为尸体价格表明，繁殖速度更快、因此更可持续的物种可能会被替代，并被消费者欣然接受。
