Is there some kind of breeding technique to cultivating a large quantity of queens? Or is this just pure brute force poking at a bunch of hives/nests/mounds?

Kowowow@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 173d (4 replies)

Feels like it would be easier to smuggle a handfull then start farming them

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 173d (3 replies)

Farming non-native species can be incredibly difficult.

Kowowow@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 173d (2 replies)

Harder than digging and collecting then smuggling 2000 ant queens?

tal@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 172d (1 reply)

If you're using Kenyan labor, I imagine that the collecting is probably pretty inexpensive. Wages in Kenya probably aren't going to be very high.

searches

https://humancapital.worldbank.org/en/economy/KEN

According to that, 70.1% of the population makes less than $3.65/day (2021 numbers). If the comment in this thread about a queen selling for $200 is accurate, you can probably afford to put a lot of human labor into collecting.

Kowowow@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 172d

would be really funny if the guy put out a bounty of like 50 bucks for a queen and word got around so fast he ended up with too many and he might as well try to sell them back home

k0e3@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 172d

We get Chinese smugglers poaching tortoises and hermit crabs here in Okinawa. So annoying.

SlimePirate@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 173d (2 replies)

I am trying to understand who buys them and why ?

CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 173d

Rich people and collecting weird stuff

tal@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 173d

It is believed that the intended destinations were the exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia.

betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 173d (1 reply)

It's all just a big misunderstanding, he was worried that the little bag of peanuts would leave him unsatisfied and hungry on the flight home.

chaogomu@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 173d

See, that's actually the illegal part.