A vast landscape of hillocks, with many dating back millennia, was erected by minuscule organisms barely half an inch in size. Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark
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Though the notion of spotting the Great Wall of China from outer space has been debunked, certain enormous construction ventures are visible from orbit – and not all of them are human-made. Syntermes dirus, a termite species indigenous to Brazil, has fashioned a substantial array of 7ft-high hummocks that spans an area comparable to the size of Great Britain.
Each hummock can require thousands of years to finalize, attaining nearly 30 feet in breadth. Nevertheless, the sheer number of these so-called “murundas,” approximately two hundred million according to the latest estimation, has collectively transformed them into a significant landmark that is discernible from several miles above.
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Even though the Great Pyramid of Cheops is frequently praised as an architectural marvel, the diminutive termites have shifted roughly 10 km3 (2.4 cu mi) of earth, ample to construct four thousand stacks each the magnitude of the renowned Egyptian structure. It has been depicted as the equivalent of humans erecting a structure four times the altitude of the Burj Khalifa, or 320 times as tall as Big Ben, entirely devoid of blueprints, surveyors, or inconvenient occupational safety standards.
The tiny insects, a mere fraction over half an inch in length, subsist almost exclusively on discarded leaves from a particular species of tree. Researchers assert that their colossal hummocks are simply the refuse heaps for an extensive web of interconnected subterranean “metropolises” that stretches for numerous miles.
The rigid, arid, and somewhat barren soil in the region is not just suitable for construction but also unappealing to farmers, thus enabling the hummocks to persist undisturbed for, in certain instances, up to 4,000 years.
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While denizens have been cognizant of the hummocks for numerous centuries, the complete magnitude and remarkable uniformity of the edifice were only revealed somewhat recently following their detection in satellite images.
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Stephen Martin from the University of Salford, communicated to New Scientist in 2018: “I examined Google Earth and discerned that they’re ubiquitous in this vicinity, yet I could unearth nothing regarding them online.”
The termites will amass petite, prickly foliage from the adjacent caatinga woodlands that exclusively fall annually, and Martin conveys that there’s a frenzied endeavor to gather as many as feasible: “It’s akin to if all the supermarkets were operational for a solitary day per year — the individual with the swiftest vehicle would procure the most sustenance,” he elucidates.
“You necessitate a network of routes to arrive at the supermarket as expeditiously as you can because you’re in direct contention with other colonies.”
Each hummock does not symbolize a discrete colony, investigators have ascertained, owing to the absence of animosity amongst the termites from each “murunda” and their immediate counterparts.
Conversely, should termites be extracted from their indigenous hummock and relocated to one a few miles distant, then a skirmish will invariably ensue.
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The extent of each termite colony’s boundaries remains ambiguous. While the majority of termite colonies are focused around a singular egg-laying queen, Stephen Martin and his exploration team have thus far been unable to pinpoint a royal enclosure within any of the hummocks they have unearthed, thus the configuration of the colonies, along with their dimensions, persists as unknown.
Another enigma, Martin articulates, is how the termites oversee their survival when their provision of sustenance is solely procurable for such a constrained duration. “We are unaware of any [termite] species that estivate, but perhaps they do,” he states.