Illegal ant(ic)s — tiny targets of a growing global biopiracy threat to South Africa

Daily Maverick

11-05-2025

Four foreign nationals were last week sentenced for trying to smuggle thousands of live ants out of Kenya, with authorities there highlighting a global biopiracy problem tied to the exotic pet market. It turns out traffickers are also eyeing South African ants.
An image of a reproducing female ant – a queen – sourced from South Africa can be seen on a social media page of an online store based in another continent.
A quick Google search shows that the same ant species, which includes queens that can grow to around 18mm and workers of between nine and 19mm, can potentially be purchased in Germany and another country, both far away from its origins.
Its cost is not readily available because it is out of stock, hinting at how it may be popular there among those keeping ants as a hobby… or even among smugglers.
That specific ant species ending up in another part of the world may not be a result of lawbreaking, but it hints at an emerging problem – international live ant smuggling, with South Africa among the countries traffickers are eyeing.
Nature versus 'exotic pets'
Ants contribute to seed distribution as well as soil aeration and fertilisation.
Illegally targeted ants are usually sourced in nature and are bigger than the ones found in homes, which some consider as pests.
Crooks go after the larger insects to get them into the global exotic pet market, an arena which can involve owners under the impression that it is admirable to own wildlife.
To provide some idea of how much ants can cost, a UK website (that warns it is illegal to release non-native species into the wild) advertises a type of carpenter ant found in East and South Africa for about R1,100 each.
A Giant African Stink Ant, found in most parts of Africa, costs about R3,180.
Daily Maverick has established that while crimes linked to the insects do not seem to be prevalent in South Africa, there have been attempts from individuals in other countries, including Europe and Asia, to illegally procure colonies from here.
This suggests transnational trafficking is at play.
In South Africa, ant keeping and trading in ants is a hobby mainly to observe and learn about them.
It is understood that permitting documentation is needed when moving specific ant species from a particular area or province, or out of the country.
In the Western Cape, for example, CapeNature says the Nature Conservation Ordinance means that if someone collects queen ants on another person's property, they need written permission.
If they receive queen ants from another person, they need a document stating that person's full name, address and where they got the queens from.
Worldwide trafficking
In Kenya last month, April 2025, authorities arrested four people who they said tried smuggling more than 5,000 ants from there without a permit.
They described the matters as 'unprecedented' and said it signalled a shift in trafficking from larger mammals to 'lesser known yet ecologically critical species'.
Meanwhile, a few months before the Kenya saga, a suspect was arrested in Peru in November last year for trying to sneak out more than 300 tarantulas, a hundred centipedes and nine bullet ants.
This kind of trafficking is nothing new – more than a decade ago, a German citizen was reportedly fined for trying to sneak at least 3,000 ants, along with some plants, from Australia.
In South Africa, there do not appear to be records of ant smuggling.
National police were not able to respond to Daily Maverick's questions by the time of publication.
Peter Mbelengwa, spokesperson for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, said last week that it had not investigated ant smuggling cases.
In the Western Cape, where plant poaching is a major problem, police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie said specialised investigation units told him they 'have never encountered a crime or attempted crime of such nature [here]'.
CapeNature had also not dealt with cases involving ant collecting for the illicit animal trade and said their specialists believed little was known about this.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) indicated it was aware of the issue.
SA's 'unprecedented onslaught'
South African entomologist Ludwig Eksteen, meanwhile, said he believed ants were being targeted. (A second source agreed.)
Given the size of ants, related crimes could slip under the radar.
Eksteen told Daily Maverick that while there was a community in the country interested in ant-keeping as a hobby, there was also a black market involving insects, plants and reptiles.
Daily Maverick has reported extensively on a succulent poaching crisis.
'At this stage, there is an unprecedented onslaught on our native species, including plants, insects, reptiles, mammals, basically anything that can be kept as a pet or display animal/piece,' Eksteen said.
'We have a thriving and healthy ant-keeping community in South Africa, and we are all for keeping indigenous species and catching your own queen or trading for a queen and her starter colony (indigenous species only).'
Eksteen reiterated that unlawful behaviour was not condoned.
'We not only strongly condemn the keeping of exotic ant species and the illegal export of our indigenous species, but have standing rules that we will give any information shared about the illegal export of ants to relevant authorities, and we have already assisted in some of the cases that have led to arrests.'
Ecosystem damage and extinction
Local ant keeping was a hobby that introduced people to natural science, Eksteen said.
Because of the hobby, some children became keen to study entomology or zoology, and this also led to the discovery of ant biology secrets.
'So, the two main concerns we have at this stage are firstly the damage illegal export is having on all of our ecosystems and natural populations,' he said.
'Secondly, the illegal export could lead to the complete ban of ant keeping, which will close a door to the future generation [being] exposed to the natural sciences.'
Eksteen emphasised that it was important to differentiate between hobbyists, who collected about three to 10 queens from a specific ant type, and smugglers, who potentially collected more than a thousand queens.
'The hobbyists also catch queens during their nuptial [mating] flights and only remove colonies that are in imminent threat of eradication, for instance if they are in a house that is going to be fumigated,' he said.
Removing 10 queens from nuptial flights had a very small ecological impact because many queens were caught by predators in any case.
'Smugglers collect wild colonies that they dig up, which not only removes a critical colony from the ecosystem, but damages the area and plants as well,' Eksteen explained.
'Removing thousands of queens at a single nuptial flight and then still digging up founding queens and colonies later can cause local extinctions of that species.'
Kenya and 'growing global biopiracy'
Last month in Kenya, four people were arrested in two ant smuggling cases.
In one case, Duh Hung Nguyen, of Vietnam, and Dennis Ng'ang'a, of Kenya, were detained in connection with smuggling about 300 ants.
Sentencing remarks in the matter said it served to 'spotlight an offence whose devastation is not immediately seen, but that affects the environment, ecosystems and generations…
'Without ants, soil quality would significantly decline, negatively impacting both natural vegetation and agricultural productivity.'
𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒 pic.twitter.com/rMiv3TFjB8
— Kenya Wildlife Service (@KWSKenya) May 7, 2025
In the second case, two Belgians – Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19 – were arrested in connection with the smuggling of about 5,000 ants. They claimed to have collected the ants as hobbyists.
All four pleaded guilty, and last Wednesday, 7 May 2025, the Kenya Wildlife Service announced that they had each been fined KES1-million (R141,483) or a year in prison.
They had targeted Messor cephalotes, an ant species native to Kenya. (A UK ant-selling website advertised them for around R4,159 each.)
A Kenya Wildlife Service statement, issued on the day the four were sentenced, said the ants were 'vital to soil health and ecosystem stability' and were valued at around KES1.2-million (R170,000).
Authorities had intercepted the live ants hidden in specially modified test tubes and syringes.
The test tubes were designed to keep the ants alive for up to two months and to evade airport security mechanisms, including X-rays.
4 SUSPECTS PLEAD GUILTY IN LANDMARK CASE OF LIVE ANT SMUGGLING pic.twitter.com/kPrv8cWzSz
— Kenya Wildlife Service (@KWSKenya) April 14, 2025
Another Kenya Wildlife Service statement, dated 14 April 2025, explained: 'This case highlights a growing global threat: the biopiracy of native species.
'Biopiracy refers to the commercial exploitation or export of biological materials – such as plants, animals and microorganisms – without fair compensation or benefit-sharing with the country of origin.'
According to the statement, the ants were destined for 'high-value exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, where demand for rare insect species is rising.'
Intercepted ants, especially the Messor cephalotes species, were prized for reasons including 'their unique behaviours, complex colony-building capabilities and greenhouse pest control.'
The Kenya Wildlife Service statement called for more public awareness and enhanced surveillance at airports.
Arid southern Africa
Among the online ant-selling stores that Daily Maverick came across was MyAnts, based in Germany.
The species Camponotus fulvopilosus was listed as out of stock on the site, with a customer note saying: 'There is currently a water shortage in South Africa. This has been the case for the past five years. It is difficult to find any colonies here at all.'
It added that the ant was found from 'Cape Town to East London.'
This specific ant type was also out of stock at a Central European online store, and it appeared that an individual linked to another European shop acquired one a few months ago, in March. (Daily Maverick's email queries were not responded to.)
South Africa's biodiversity institute Sanbi's website said Camponotus fulvopilosus was also known as the ' yellow-haired sugar ant.'
It was 'widely distributed in arid regions of southern Africa, from Angola, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Namibia and South Africa.'
Sanbi said: 'Unlike other ants, it is equipped with a special venom gland that produces formic acid [allowing] it to use an acid-squirting mechanism against attackers.'
Daily Maverick asked the German online store MyAnts about its out-of-stock Camponotus fulvopilosus from South Africa, and the case in Kenya.
In response, its head, René Hiersigk, said Camponotus fulvopilosus ants had not been available for a while.
'If it was previously listed in our assortment, it came exclusively from legal, documented sources,' he said.
'Sensationalism' — a stance in Germany
When it came to the Kenya case, he said a lot of media coverage appeared to be exaggerated or incorrect.
Hiersigk also cast some doubt on reports of how many ants were intercepted. (The Kenya Wildlife Service said about 5,000.)
'We analysed… images using [Artificial Intelligence]-assisted tools and counted the number of visible test tubes and ants, which allowed for a fairly accurate estimation of the actual quantities involved.
'The result was approximately 1,000 test tubes, far from the many thousands… that were claimed in some reports.'
He added that there was a heavy saturation of queen ants from Kenya, meaning they were lower priced.
'The actual profit per person involved was likely in the range of €2,500 [R52,123] to €3,500 [R72,973], before subtracting considerable costs.'
Hiersigk felt that ant smuggling was best described as the 'wildlife trade for the poor' and was 'small-scale, high-risk and with minimal profit margins.'
'Moral outrage' and reality
He did not see the ant trade as posing an environmental threat.
'The demand is – and will remain – very limited, as there are tens of thousands of ant species worldwide. In many regions, a single nuptial flight can produce thousands of individuals.
'This means that supply far exceeds demand, making it possible to handle this group of animals in a controlled and harmless way.'
Hiersigk referred to other crimes, saying corruption among officials was a problem in Kenya, as were different types of lawbreaking in South Africa.
'The moral outrage directed at small collectors or isolated cases in the insect trade appears simply hypocritical in this context. We categorically reject illegal wildlife trade,' he said.
'However, anyone seeking to cover such topics in a journalistic context should present the full picture – including local conditions, economic hardship, political realities and the exploitation by both local and international actors. Anything else does not do justice to the truth.'
Some South African sources countered that not everyone may fully grasp the extent and impact of wildlife exploitation on this continent. DM