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Kenya's queen ants worth $220 each fuel booming global wildlife black market
The illegal trade in giant harvester ant queens from Kenya fuels exotic pet markets, traditional medicine, and research, with queens fetching up to €170 each, risking local ecosystems.
- In early March, authorities detained Chinese national Zhang Kequn at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi with more than 2,200 live queen ants packed in his luggage bound for China.
- Gilgil, an agricultural town in Kenya's Rift Valley, has emerged as the center of a booming black market where giant African harvester ant queens fetch up to $220 on the global market.
- Nairobi-Based social anthropologist Willis Okumu notes exotic pet collectors favor the species for their complex colonies, while Kenya Wildlife Research and Training Institute official Kavaka Mukonyi says researchers study the ants' "unique microorganisms" for medical applications.
- Researcher Zhengyang Wang warned that importing non-native ants could "wreak havoc" on local ecosystems, noting that monitoring online sales in China revealed over a quarter of traded species were non-native.
- Global ant trade researcher Sergio Henriques noted that currently no ant species is listed under Cites, complicating enforcement efforts regarding the illicit movement of ants from Kenya.
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Scientists warn of the serious risks of this type of trade, as the introduction of non-native species can disrupt local ecosystems.
The newest object of Kenya's traffic doesn't mean either chicken or rhinoceros, but it's a species of supplies. A single big African harvester's cat sells with 220 dollars on the market...
In Kenya, a supply species has become so valuable to foreign collectors that it has generated a real black market. A single copy of the queen can be sold with 220 dollars, feeding an illegal trade with serious environmental consequences. A kingdom for 220 dollars Species located in the center of this [...]
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Total News Sources11
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Center
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
67% Center
L 33%
C 67%
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