Out of all the various animal life forms that inhabit our planet, there is one type that is found the most often. No it’s not humans, it’s the beetle. Scientists estimate that beetles make up 25% of all animal life forms in the world, and there are more different types of species of beetles than any other type of life. So far, over 350,000 different types of beetle species have been identified, and scientists believe that there could be a few million different species in total. For example, there are some types of beetles that inhabit a specific cave in the Amazon and they only exist in that cave. There are just so many that we really have no idea how many different kinds of beetles exist today. New species are discovered extremely frequently, and the beetle also remains the most popular type of insect among collectors. Now would you believe that there is a $100 million dollar industry that revolves around the beetle?
For many years, collectors and biologists have accumulated various types of beetles for their personal collection. Given their vast diversity, beetles come in all different shapes and sizes. Now sometime in the 1990’s “beetle mania” happened, and collectors around the world became extremely interested in finding and collecting the rarest ones. Since then, the beetle breeding and smuggling industry has exponentially grown to levels that have never been seen before. However one country has the largest demand for exotic beetles: Japan.
Japan is at the forefront of the beetle industry, as strangely that is where the highest demand for beetles are. Japan is only home to just 35 species of beetles, so naturally collectors and enthusiasts had to look elsewhere for prized beetles. Out of all the various beetles, the stag beetles remain as the most popular ones. Now during the 1990’s as people became more fascinated with beetles, people began to breed beetles. They discovered various methods of breeding that would yield larger beetles, and in the beetle industry, the big ones are worth the highest amounts of money. Suddenly the beetle craze spread through Asia, and then the entire world. Now there are people that dedicate their lives to raising different kinds of beetles, and they make a living doing that. Today both beetle breeders and illegal smugglers are looking to make massive amounts of money, as the beetle industry as a whole has an estimated net worth of over $100 million dollars.
While breeding is the more acceptable way to produce beetles, many people look to smuggle the small insects. These smugglers will travel very far to remote locations, collect rare and endangered species, and then attempt to illegally smuggle them out of the country where they will be sold on the black market. While on the surface it seems strange, once you get an understanding of how much these beetles are worth, it suddenly makes more sense as to why people risk jail time over an insect.
In both the legal and underground market, various kinds of beetles can sell for all sorts of different prices. Prices can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. Some stag beetles can easily go for $5,000 dollars in the market. Back in 1999, a Dorcus Hopei Binodulosus beetle was raised by a Japanese breeder and it measured out to be around 3.1 inches in length. That particular beetle was sold at auction for over $82,000 dollars! While that typically isn’t normal, these beetles are often sold for thousands of dollars. This is why there is a large demand for both breeders and smugglers.
However there are a lot of environmental and ethical concerns with the beetle trade, specifically relating to smuggling. The problem with smuggling, aside from being illegal, is that smugglers will often poach rare and endagered species, sometimes destroying the entire population of a specific beetle. Beetles are also fairly easy to smuggle, given how small they are. All smugglers have to do is bring in maybe 5 specimens that are worth $3,000 each, and bam, they just made $15,000. The beetle trade is very lucrative. In one famous case, two Japanese men were caught in Nepal attempting to smuggle 542 beetles back to their country! Smugglers also don’t have to put in the time, effort, and care that goes into breeding the beetles, they just take what they see. Some people also don’t even realize they are smuggling beetles. People will travel to exotic locations and then happen to find a beetle that they want to bring back with them, not realizing that the beetle is endangered.
Still as popular as the beetle industry has become over the years, Japan is still the worlds hot spot for the beetle trade. Over in Japan there are countless stores, and even vending machines, where you can purchase live beetle specimens. While the beetle craze did spawn a large illegal market, some good has come out of all this. Reputable beetle breeders and biologists now have a better understanding of how beetles reproduce, their life cycles, and various other aspects of beetles that we didn’t understand until now. The beetle industry is so big that you can even purchase specimens off Amazon! So the next time you see a beetle walking around, think twice before squishing it, as it could be worth thousands of dollars.
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