IT WAS A smuggling(走私) operation to make your skin crawl(令人毛骨悚然). At Nairobi airport earlier this year, Kenyan authorities discovered more than 2,200 African harvester ants(收获蚁) hidden in a man’s luggage. Most were packed inside small plastic tubes plugged with damp cotton, designed to keep the ants alive for weeks while they made it to their recipients, collectors in China.(大多数蚂蚁被装在小塑料管里，用湿棉塞住，设计目的是让它们在到达中国收藏者手中之前存活数周。) In April the smuggler was sentenced to a year in prison. His conviction(定罪) followed a series of similar cases, including the arrest last year of two Belgian teenagers carrying around 5,000 ants.
这是一起令人毛骨悚然的走私行动。今年早些时候，在内罗毕机场，肯尼亚当局在一名男子的行李中发现了超过2200只非洲收获蚁。大多数蚂蚁被装在小塑料管里，用湿棉塞住，设计目的是让它们在到达中国收藏者手中之前存活数周。四月，这名走私者被判处一年监禁。他的定罪之前已有一系列类似案件，包括去年两名比利时青少年携带约5000只蚂蚁被捕。
A global craze(热潮，狂热) for pet ants has fuelled(助长，加剧) a booming black market(黑市) in live queen ants. An African harvester queen can sell for more than $200 in the black market (it costs barely $3 in Kenya). The country has become a hub(中心，枢纽) for illegal trading because it has abundant populations of the species, alongside established smuggling networks that have long trafficked(非法贩运) wildlife.
全球宠物蚂蚁热潮助长了活蚁后黑市的繁荣。一只非洲收获蚁后在黑市上可卖到200多美元（在肯尼亚仅需约3美元）。该国已成为非法交易中心，因为它拥有丰富的该物种种群，加之长期贩运野生动物的成熟走私网络。
Ant-keeping became a popular pastime(消遣，娱乐) during the pandemic as people searched for indoor hobbies. Enthusiasts keep colonies in transparent formicariums(蚁巢（饲养箱）)—miniature “ant cities”—where they watch the insects dig tunnels and forage(觅食) for food. Social media has helped turn the pastime into a global phenomenon(现象). YouTube channels such as AntsCanada, which has more than 7m subscribers, narrate the stories of individual colonies like nature documentaries, from queens founding new nests to battles with rival species.(像AntsCanada这样的YouTube频道拥有超过700万订阅者，像自然纪录片一样讲述单个蚁群的故事，从蚁后建立新巢到与敌对物种的战斗。)
疫情期间，人们寻找室内爱好，养蚁成为一种流行的消遣。爱好者们将蚁群养在透明的蚁巢——微型“蚂蚁城市”中，在那里观察昆虫挖隧道和觅食。社交媒体帮助将这一消遣变成了全球现象。像AntsCanada这样的YouTube频道拥有超过700万订阅者，像自然纪录片一样讲述单个蚁群的故事，从蚁后建立新巢到与敌对物种的战斗。