Termite World | Life In The Undergrowth | BBC

here in South Africa it can also get very hot but there's no danger of flooding so termites can take refuge from the heat below ground where it's cool and relatively stable but two million insects living below ground create a different kind of problem the air around them gets stale so termites need to have a way of linking the underground air with the fresh air above a ventilation system and they do that with this and to see how it works you've got to look inside using the latest scanning techniques we can create a picture of the mounds interior an intricate network of passages lead to a central chimney hot stale air from the insect population below rises up through the chimney but the top of the mound is sealed so how does this stale air escape the mound may look as though it has strong defensive walls like a fortress but in fact these walls are porous and their primary purpose is to harness the wind fresh air blowing against the side of the mound is forced through the tiny holes in these walls from there it travels through the smaller tunnels until it reaches the central chimney here the cooler fresh air mixes with the hot stale air rising from the insect community below meanwhile some air is blown around the side of the mound this creates a suction that pulls the stale air out of the chimney and outs of the outer walls so an internal air current is created and the whole mound ventilated the mounds inhabitants spend most of their time close to or below ground level beneath their living quarters there are garden chambers where the termites cultivate a fungus that rots the wood and vegetation they collect and make it digestible farther down still the Queen lies in her own chamber a huge body is a gigantic egg producing factory she's so swollen that she can't look after herself the workers must constantly clean her and feed her with food from their own crops a partner with whom she founded the colony maybe 20 years ago is still with her and mates with her throughout her life she lays eggs and an extraordinary rate as many as 30,000 a day as she produces them so workers remove them from the Royal chamber and take them to nurseries there they'll be fed on compost from the fungus gardens until they turn into adults the super organism that lives in this great castle crops the surrounding vegetation just about as severely as an antelope the density of individual termites around here is extraordinary over a hundred thousand per square meter and just as there are Lance a leopard the hunt antelope so in the undergrowth there are insect hunters which prey on the tiny herbivores the ants the termites ancient enemy matter be Liam's specialist termite hunter a scout has laid down a clear chemical trail and this battalion the workers have picked it up and are following it there may be only a few hundred of them but they're going to severely test the defenses of a termite colony the mound has formidable guards soldier termites the ants have a special technique for dealing with these soldiers they grab the termites jaw and then sting it in the only vulnerable place on its head in its mouth the amps frontline breaks into the common reinforcements from the termite soldiers arrived quickly already there are casualties on both sides but the invaders overwhelmed the defenders it's not to the ants advantage to kill an entire termite colony any more than it would be sensible for farmers to exterminate their cattle better to let most survive so that they can be regularly raided so although there are millions of termites in the colony the matter belly ants rarely go deep into the nest to press home their victory the raid lasts less than 15 minutes nonetheless the spoils are impressive termite bodies are now being piled in dumps outside the nest many of the casualties are still alive but paralyzed by the ant stings now the Raiders have the considerable task of carrying their victims back to their nest

Channel: undefined

Views: 1,179,319

Rating: 4.8188653 out of 5

Keywords: termite world, the world of termites, termite world life in the undergrowth, life in the undergrowth termite world, termite, termites, termite swarm, termites swarm, termite swarms, life in the undergrowth, life in the undergrowth david attenborough, bbc studios, bbc earth, bbc

Id: xGaT0B__2DM

Length: 6min 43sec (403 seconds)

Published: Invalid Date

Reddit Comments

[u/Dofley]

As far as I can tell, ants are essentially smaller scale Zerg.

[u/TheFeatheredCap]

This is old, and may have been posted before. The war starts at 3:37. The first three minutes are an interesting look into a termite colony in South Africa.

[u/tyrizzle]

Love videos of ants at 240P. Each ant gets their own pixel.

[u/Fangorn_Stark]

This should be the plot for Antz II: Redemption