The Malayan Box Turtle is disappearing across Malaysia despite a ban on its export, finds a new report by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network and a joint programme between IUCN and WWF. The turtles are in high demand in East Asia for their meat and for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

The Malayan Box Turtle is a subspecies of the widespread South Asian Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis), which is considered the commonest freshwater turtle in Southeast Asia, but despite this, and even its tolerance of man-made artificial habitats, the species is in peril due to over-exploitation finds the new report, Science in CITES: The biology and ecology of the Southeast Asian Box Turtle Cuora amboinensis and its uses and trade in Malaysia.

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