A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four men $7,700 each for trying to traffic thousands of ants valuable to the country's ecosystem, in cases experts say signal a shift in biopiracy from trophies like elephant ivory to lesser-known species.

Two Belgian teenagers found with 5,000 ants in Kenya have been fined $7,700 or the option to serve 12 months in prison for violating wildlife conservation laws.

A court in Nairobi sentenced two Belgian teenagers for attempting to smuggle ants worth over CAD 860,000. If they fail to pay the fine, they face a year in prison. The Nairobi court sentenced four men for smuggling wildlife,