Cesar Sabogal Colombia, one of the world's most biologically diverse countries, has begun to cash in on this natural resource by selling rare species of animals to other countries, a "biocommerce" viewed with unease by environmentalists.

The fledgling exports of exotic local fauna - especially butterflies, beetles, fish and frogs - to countries like the US, Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates is being undertaken by 1,250 small Colombian companies, according to figures kept by the state-run Export Promotion Fund.

But they have competition from illegal traffickers.

Tinny, a trumpet beetle born in a nursery in the central province of Boyaca, has been a denizen of Kairakuen park in the Japanese city of Mito for the past two months. Its owner, Keiko Sato, travelled last week to a farm in rural Tunja, Colombia to find it a mate.

Tierra Viva, a company whose name means "live earth," raises beetles and sells them alive or dead. German Viasus, its manager, said that after going through lots of red tape he can now profit from the trade in these creatures.

"After decades in which Colombia lost unique species to illegal trafficking, and in which they were exposed to mistreatment due to the clandestine nature of the trade, companies like ours began to think about raising them and exporting them legally, which has turned out to be a good business," he said.

"We export beetles mainly to Japan, where they are admired and treated with respect and devotion, but we've begun to receive orders from the United Arab Emirates where one of the sheikhs is a fanatic about these marvellous exemplars and made an initial order for 1,000," he said.