00:00Kenya is confronting an unusual new form of wildlife trafficking,
00:05the smuggling of giant African harvester ants.
00:09Outside Nairobi, entomologist Dr. Dino Martins
00:14points to one of the insects' prowling nests.
00:18We're standing on the edge of a harvester ant nest here.
00:21These are the ants who've now become world famous
00:24because they're being traded.
00:26This harvester ant nest is one of the species
00:29that's really found across Africa,
00:31all the way from the Mediterranean down to the Cape.
00:35But here in East Africa, they are very abundant.
00:37They're one of our most common ants.
00:40But what seems ordinary in the wild
00:42has become highly priced among collectors abroad.
00:46Queen ants of the species Mensaw can sell for hundreds of dollars online.
00:52You know, when I saw the prices people were paying for these ant queens,
00:55I was completely in shock
00:56because I also struggled as an entomologist to understand
01:00why are people so determined to have them.
01:03And I think it's because they're so beautiful.
01:05They're bright and red.
01:07They're gentle.
01:07They're not aggressive.
01:09They do a lot of interesting behaviors.
01:11They live for a long time.
01:13So that seems to be, to me, what people are passionate about.
01:16But I think it's also just fashion.
01:19You know, sometimes people will pay a lot of money for a handbag
01:21or an item of clothing, and it seems a bit ridiculous.
01:25And to me, that seems to be part of it.
01:28Each colony depends on a single queen,
01:31which may live for up to 60 years
01:34and produce every ant in the nest.
01:37Each nest here has just one queen.
01:41And she is the mother who founded this nest 40 or 50 or even 60 years ago.
01:48She is the mother of every single individual we see here.
01:52So I was really shocked when I saw, you know,
01:55thousands of queens were being collected.
01:57Kenyan authorities say the trade amounts to biopiracy
02:02and are stepping up efforts to stop traffickers
02:05from exploiting one of Africa's smallest but most remarkable creatures.
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