Termites have been building hundreds of millions of huge mounds for 4,000 years. Now scientists know

[TomSea]

Termites have been building hundreds of millions of huge mounds for 4,000 years. Now scientists know why
Alex Matthews-King

A termite super-colony which spans an area the size of Great Britain has been under construction since the time of the pyramids in ancient Egypt, scientists have found.

Researchers studying the vast landscape of 200 million cone-shaped mounds in northeast Brazil sampled soil from 11 locations and found that some began construction around 3,820 years ago.

At around 2.5 metres tall, 9 metres wide at the base, and spread across 230,000 square kilometres, it represents a vast earth-moving endeavour – but the mounds are not individual termite nests.

Continued at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/termite-mounds-visible-space-brazil-pyramids-brazil-salford-biology-study-a8641391.html