Interesting to think of the ant black market (nb not the same as the "black ant market") as a sign of the times.
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Interesting to think of the ant black market (nb not the same as the "black ant market") as a sign of the times.
Why the ant black market is booming
Government cuts have increased the threat of invasive ant species in the United States.
(www.marketplace.org)
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Interesting to think of the ant black market (nb not the same as the "black ant market") as a sign of the times.
Why the ant black market is booming
Government cuts have increased the threat of invasive ant species in the United States.
(www.marketplace.org)
I'm not thrilled to hear about a boom in illicit ants, but at the same time, it would take a lot of mistakes for this to be a vector for invasive species.
*points finger at the plant trade*
For pet ants to go rouge you'd need someone to release alates or whole colonies. This happens with frogs, snakes and similar pets. But I think the bigger issue is the collecting and poor documentation.
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I'm not thrilled to hear about a boom in illicit ants, but at the same time, it would take a lot of mistakes for this to be a vector for invasive species.
*points finger at the plant trade*
For pet ants to go rouge you'd need someone to release alates or whole colonies. This happens with frogs, snakes and similar pets. But I think the bigger issue is the collecting and poor documentation.
Agreed, the "invasive species" aspect of that article is way overblown.
What do you mean by the bigger issue being the collecting and poor documentation?
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Agreed, the "invasive species" aspect of that article is way overblown.
What do you mean by the bigger issue being the collecting and poor documentation?
I worry about people tramping off into fragile habitats and digging up more "popular" species. Capturing a few queens when they are flying probably isn't a big problem but some of these sellers will dig up living colonies.
It *is* possible to get permits and, in the US we have many native ants worth keeping.
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I worry about people tramping off into fragile habitats and digging up more "popular" species. Capturing a few queens when they are flying probably isn't a big problem but some of these sellers will dig up living colonies.
It *is* possible to get permits and, in the US we have many native ants worth keeping.
One of the other kind of weird ant production items out there has been nest casts - mostly of fire ants, mostly displayed upside-down, badly poured. Different from the casts Tschinkel and colleagues make for research and museum purposes.
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One of the other kind of weird ant production items out there has been nest casts - mostly of fire ants, mostly displayed upside-down, badly poured. Different from the casts Tschinkel and colleagues make for research and museum purposes.
Yeah. I don't really get the attraction for those. It's a bit hard to get worked up when it's fire ants... but they just make me sad.
