Termites in the NT

I have had some professional acquaintance with termites. Although others performed the termite extermination, I was the one to tell the afflicted tenant: sorry, but those insect bites on your legs are not from termites. Termites eat cellulose, not human flesh.

Termites are socially organized into three castes. Most, over 90%,  are sightless, sexless, flightless, defenseless workers. Some, called soldiers, have mandibles to defend the colony against predators like ants. And a few, called alates, develop wings and sex organs. Then they fly off to mate and start a new colony. These are called reproductives. Your correspondent underlines the association of flight with sex and danger. Whee! The first rains of the wet season in November or December bring on the swarms of flying termites. Once they’ve left the security of the mound, termites become a convenient protein source for others, including people. The CSIRO, Commonwealth Science and Industry Organization, published a study showing greater diversity and abundance of lizards, birds, and insectivorous mammals in areas with greater termite populations. Termites are available year-round, not just in the plant-friendly wet season. 

Termites not only feed other animals, but also house them. Their mounds shelter other insects, birds, reptiles or small mammals. During wildfires on the Savanna, other animals dig an opening and hop in to wait out the fire. For the indigenous people, interior chambers of the mound, called carton, are a medicinal compound of earth and termite spit. They also use the mounds as a bush oven, slowly smoking their proteins like crocodile as the moist carton smolders.

CSIRO is introducing termites to overgrazed soils as a way to improve water retention and furnish nutrients. Instead of just mulching with plant matter, soil experts induce termites to eat the plant matter and then build mounds. This approach is still experimental. 

I cannot stop admiring a society that promotes science.  That termite mounds are so well-studied speaks well of Australia.