Mummies sold online carry arsenic, mercury and dormant fungi
Di Minin's University of Helsinki team monitored four mainstream platforms for six weeks in mid-2025 and found threatened species offered illegally. Ars Technica warns that mummified remains sold online carry arsenic, mercury, lead and dormant fungi.
Science··Midday
Primates, orchids and snakes go on sale on four platforms
A review led by Di Minin at the University of Helsinki monitored Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for six weeks in mid-2025 and found thousands of animal, plant and fungal species offered illegally, many of them threatened with extinction. Primates, orchids and snakes sit among those listings. The review, in Nature Reviews Biodiversity, also identifies gaps in the data that leave the full extent of the online wildlife trade unmeasured.[1]
Catch risk looks low and identity stays hidden
Di Minin's team points to a perceived low risk of being caught, weak regulatory governance and the anonymity Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube allow. The Nature Reviews Biodiversity review also identifies gaps in the data, which leave the full extent of the online trade unmeasured. The six-week scan shows illegal sales on the four platforms; it does not give a single total.[1]
Mummies sold online arrive with arsenic, mercury and fungi
Writing in the International Journal of Cultural Property, researchers argue that collectors buying mummified human and animal remains face health risks alongside legal ones. Preservation used heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead, and bacteria, fungi and yeasts can lie dormant in the tissue for centuries. Kirsty Squires of the University of Staffordshire says social media has amplified trafficking in cultural heritage, including mummified humans and animals. The paper, as Ars Technica reports, found that 24 of 128 posts came from outside Meta, that 13 Facebook posts showed visible fungal colonisation in the photos, and that sellers provide no safety guidance. Earlier work found fungal growth on the mummies in the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, and Aspergillus, Penicillium and Stachybotrys in crypts in Kraków.[2]
