“We did not come here to break any laws. By accident and stupidity we did,” says Lornoy David, one of the Belgian smugglers.
Ah, here we go, the age old story of swarthy foreign men approaching naive tourists to smuggle drugs...
The cargo, which two Belgian teenagers had apparently intended to ship to exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, was ants. Their enclosures were a mixture of test tubes and syringes containing cotton wool – environments that authorities say would keep the insects alive for weeks.
Oh! Well, that was unexpected!
The cases have shed new light on booming global ant trade – and what authorities say is a growing trend of trafficking “less conspicuous” creatures. These crimes represent “a shift in trafficking trends – from iconic large mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically critical species”, says a KWS statement.
Who are coincidentally easier to smaggle.But why is there a black market in ant anyway?
The seized species include Messor cephalotes, a large red harvester ant native to east Africa. Queens of the species grow to about 20-24mm long, and the ant sales website Ants R Us describes them as “many people’s dream species”, selling them for £99 per colony. The ants are prized by collectors for their unique behaviours and complex colony-building skills, “traits that make them popular in exotic pet circles, where they are kept in specialised habitats known as formicariums”, KWS says.
Oh, well, everyone has to have a hobby, I guess.
One online ant vendor, who asked not to be named, says the market is thriving, and there has been a growth in ant-keeping shows, where enthusiasts meet to compare housing and species details. “Sales volumes have grown almost every year. There are more ant vendors than before, and prices have become more competitive,” he says.
“In today’s world, where most people live fast-paced, tech-driven lives, many are disconnected from themselves and their environment. Watching ants in a formicarium can be surprisingly therapeutic,” he says.
Millennials..! *rolls eyes*
9 comments:
Not just Millennials I'm afraid. I have one in my house but with less expensive ants. It's relaxing watching them work and very similar to having a fish tank.
I've seen some really complicated set ups on YT and as long as you keep the containers sealed you won't get them migrating to your house. Particularly some of the more aggressive species. Plus they are easy to keep, don't need maintenance like taken out for walks and make a good talking point.
I prefer sea monkeys as pets.
Shouldn’t than be ‘formicaria?’ Typical Millennials’ lazy grammar!
There’s a literary precedent, though; consider ‘The Sword in the Stone’ and the Wart’s lesson in totalitarianism (although I think T.H White has been cancelled so we aren’t suppose to think of him any more).
(Not having my reading glasses on, I initially misread the word as ‘fornicariums’, which made me wonder whether everything I learned in O level Biology about social insects was wrong.)
I've always found social insects fascinating and have read a few books about them. I have never thought of keeping them as pets though. Ants invented agriculture a long time before humans did.
Shhhh! Keep that to yourself, otherwise Surkier will impost inheritance tax on the poor buggers!
Fascinating! I never realised it was something regularly kept.
Ah, the disappointment!
🤣
Heh!
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