The toy ant farms from your childhood are still around, but they've evolved – and many are being stocked with exotic ants being trafficked on the black market, including Messor cephalotes, a species commonly known as the giant African harvester ant.
Some enthusiasts and collectors consider ants as pets and thousands have been drawn to the hobby, according to National Geographic. That's causing a greater demand and an increase in the black market.
In a recent case, a Chinese national was arrested at an airport in Kenya after trying to smuggle 2,200 live ants, most of them Messor cephalotes – packed in special tubes and hidden in his luggage. He was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $7,700 on April 15.
East African nations control exports of the ants, which are illegal without permits.
A single giant African harvester ant queen, about an inch long, can fetch as much as $220 on the black market, according to the BBC.
