For most people, ants are unwelcome guests at a picnic, but international demand for the insects is driving a new black market in East Africa, where it could threaten ant populations and the broader environment.
In early March, 27-year-old Chinese national Zhang Kequn was detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, with more than 2,200 live queen ants packed in his luggage. Around the same time, Thai authorities seized a shipment of ants sent from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
The contraband insects were from the Messor cephalotes species, the world’s biggest variety of harvester ants, which can grow up to 25mm (1 inch) in length.
Harvester ants collect seeds and store them in their nests’ granaries. Their ability to build complex colonies has made them particularly popular among exotic pet collectors, especially in Asia and Europe, according to Willis Okumu, a Nairobi-based social anthropologist and a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
However, hobbyists are just one group interested in the ants, according to Kavaka Mukonyi, the head of bioprospecting at Kenya’s Wildlife Research and Training Institute.
The ants are also used in traditional medicine as a cure for rheumatism, making them of interest to researchers studying the potential medical applications of the “unique microorganisms” they host.
