Deep inside two plastic toys, hidden among false labels and test tubes, 105 queen harvester ants began a journey they would never complete. Mexican authorities intercepted the shipment on July 9 in Jalisco, catching what experts say is part of a booming illegal trade in ants worldwide.
The package had been sent from El Salto in Jalisco and was bound for Laos. Delivery workers grew suspicious of the parcel, which was falsely labeled "collectible figures," and reported it to Mexico's Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection. Inside, they found each ant sealed in a small test tube with a cotton ball, tucked away inside toys meant to fool Customs inspectors.
Harvester ants, specifically the genus Pogonomyrmex, are native to the deserts of the Americas, including Mexico. They are prized by collectors for their complex colony-building skills, often kept in artificial ant habitats called formicariums. This demand has made insects like these a growing target for wildlife trafficking, according to experts.
"This seizure is another indicator of the globally booming interest in ants," said Sandra Altherr, cofounder of the German NGO Pro Wildlife. Her team found over 360 different species of ants for sale on online trading websites. In Kenya earlier this year, authorities confiscated more than 5,300 endemic harvester ants and arrested four suspects.
"This trade is international in nature and clearly worth risking penalization for," said Chris Shepherd from the U.S.-based Center for Biological Diversity. "Someone is making money off of it all."
While trafficking in ants is growing, the global wildlife trade treaty known as CITES does not currently protect any ant species. Experts argue this gap leaves ecosystems vulnerable. Invasive ants have caused major damage in places like Australia's Christmas Island, where yellow crazy ants wiped out native red crabs, and Hawaii, where little fire ants cost communities an estimated $170 million in damages each year.
Back in Mexico, authorities released the surviving 87 ants into the Cerro Viejo Protected Natural Area in Jalisco, returning them to their native habitat. The 18 dead ants were documented as evidence as investigations continue.
Shepherd and his colleagues are pushing for ants to be added to CITES, which would regulate international trade in these insects. "People smuggling ants should be appropriately prosecuted, given the ants they are trafficking could lead to millions of dollars of damage," he said. Altherr added that enforcement agencies at airports and trade hubs worldwide need to be made aware of this growing trend.
For now, the 87 ants in Jalisco will continue their colony-building in peace, far from any toy box bound for Laos.