{"id":16,"date":"2026-05-19T16:40:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=16"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:40:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:40:41","slug":"smuggled-in-syringes-inside-nairobis-black-market-in-giant-harvester-ants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"Smuggled in Syringes: Inside Nairobi\u2019s Black Market in Giant Harvester Ants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"A<\/figure>\n

A giant African harvester ant in the Silole sanctuary in Kajiado.<\/span>Courtesy of Nino Martins<\/span><\/p>

Read more A Kentucky Primary Has Become a MAGA Reality Show From Hell<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Get your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily<\/em>.<\/div>\n

This story was originally published b<\/em>y\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0Guardian\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the biblical text<\/span> Book of Proverbs, King Solomon describes the harvester ant as a model of wisdom and industriousness: \u201cGo to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost 3,000 years later, the thriving international parallel market for a distinct species of the ant native to East\u00a0Africa\u00a0has been thrust into the global spotlight after a series of convictions in Kenya for ant smuggling.<\/p>\n

In the most recent case, Zhang Kequn, a Chinese national, was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 1 million Kenyan shillings (about $7,600) on April 15 after his arrest in March at Jomo Kenyatta international airport, where authorities found more than 2,200 live ants in specialized tubes in his luggage destined for\u00a0China.<\/p>\n

The insects included 1,948\u00a0Messor cephalotes<\/em>, a prized species commonly known as the giant African harvester ant.<\/p>\n

The presiding principal magistrate, Irene Gichobi, said a \u201cdeterrent sentence\u201d was needed because of rising cases of ant smuggling in\u00a0Kenya\u00a0and the ecological impact of the trade.<\/p>\n

Kequn\u2019s case was the third such\u00a0in less than a year\u00a0in Kenya, pointing to a growing market for ants as exotic pets in Asia and Europe. Ant collectors and hobbyists in these regions pay large sums for the insects, which they put in formicariums, or ant farms, to observe and study their colonies and behaviors.<\/p>\n

A study\u00a0released in 2023 on the biological invasion risk of online ant sales in China found that\u00a0Messor cephalotes\u00a0<\/em>wasthe third most popular species among non-native ants traded in the country over the internet during a six-month period in 2021.<\/p>\n

Kequn was charged alongside Charles Mwangi, a Kenyan who allegedly sold him the ants and is out on bail. Prosecutors said Kequn paid 100 Kenyan shillings for each ant.<\/p>\n

One giant African harvester queen can fetch more than $300 in exotic pet markets in Europe, Asia and North America, according to Pat Stanchev, the general manager of\u00a0Best Ants UK, an online store. That is 40 times the Kenyan price.<\/p>\n

Last year, a court in Nairobi sentenced two Belgian teenagers to one year in prison, with an option of paying a fine of 1 million shillings, after they were found with about 5,000 live giant African harvester queen ants packed in tubes.<\/p>\n

In a related case, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan received the same sentence after being found in possession of about 400 giant African harvester ants packed in syringes and containers.<\/p>\n

Reacting to Zhang\u2019s conviction, the Kenya\u00a0Wildlife\u00a0Service said: \u201cThe case highlights the growing concern over the illegal trade in invertebrates, which, though often overlooked, is increasingly targeted by traffickers due to rising global demand.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Who Stays When Liberals Leave?<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s cases prompted conservationists to\u00a0\u00a0parties to the\u00a0Cites treaty\u00a0on endangered plants and animals to recognise the international ant pet trade as a conservation and biosecurity issue of global concern.<\/p>\n

Messor cephalotes<\/em>\u00a0is a species of harvester ant that is native to east Africa. The ant has vibrant red and black colours; is the largest known species of the harvester ant\u2014workers can grow up to 19 mm and queens up to 25 mm (about an inch); and exhibit complex behavior in its foraging and nest building. All these features make it popular among collectors and hobbyists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re like the tigers of the ant world\u2014just rare and beautiful and interesting,\u201d said Dino Martins, an entomologist.<\/p>\n

A queen mates with males then goes on to start a colony of up to hundreds of thousands of her offspring, female workers and soldiers, while continuing to produce eggs her entire life. Colonies can last decades. The ants build and live in large, circular nests and store seeds underground.<\/p>\n

Stanchev said giant African harvester ants were a rare and dream species for collectors, who\u00a0prize them\u00a0for their \u201clarge size, complex colony-building, impressive foraging trails, and polymorphic workers.\u201d He added: \u201cThe queen ants are splendid, literally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Best Ants UK did not support or engage in wild collection or illegal trade, and all its ants were captive-bred or sourced ethically within UK and EU regulations, said Stanchev.<\/p>\n

Martins described giant African harvester ants as a keystone species\u2014one considered essential in holding the ecosystem together\u2014in grasslands and savannahs, playing roles such as collecting the seeds of grasses and dispersing them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re like the farmers of the grassland, making sure that there\u2019s a lot of diversity of grasses, which is really important [for livestock and wildlife],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Martins said over-harvesting the ants could cause devastating effects. \u201cWe lose the ants, we lose our cattle and we lose our milk and our butter and our cheese and we lose our wildlife and our tourism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The places where the ants are moved could be affected, too. The 2023 study said the introduction of ants outside their native ranges could make them invasive \u201cwith dire environmental and economic consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zhengyang Wang, a conservation biologist and the lead author of the study, said as grain collectors, the giant African harvester ant could impact crop growth in large agricultural fields, such as those in southern Asia or northern US, if introduced because they were non-native.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn ecological terms, moving species out of their native habitat is almost always a bad idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>

Read more The State of Total Control<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Criminal cases in Kenya point to growing demand for the critters as exotic pets in Asia and Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment"],"yoast_head":"\nSmuggled in Syringes: Inside Nairobi\u2019s Black Market in Giant Harvester Ants - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smuggled in Syringes: Inside Nairobi\u2019s Black Market in Giant Harvester Ants - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Criminal cases in Kenya point to growing demand for the critters as exotic pets in Asia and Europe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T16:40:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/89ba225e9295547739fbd17f3028f33a.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=16#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=16\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"Smuggled in Syringes: Inside Nairobi\u2019s Black Market in Giant Harvester Ants\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T16:40:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=16\"},\"wordCount\":956,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=16#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/89ba225e9295547739fbd17f3028f33a.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Environment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=16#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=16\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=16\",\"name\":\"Smuggled in Syringes: Inside Nairobi\u2019s Black Market in Giant Harvester Ants - 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