Why do termites have such superb construction skills to be able to build ant towers?

The mystery of the ant tower, the ant tower is generally 2 3 meters, and the highest is 6 meters. It is mainly built with dirt and a small amount of termite secretions and excreta. It is very sturdy and will not collapse in wind and rain.

There are also air conditioning ducts, as well as ditches and dikes to circulate air and drain incoming rainwater. Why termites have such superb construction skills.

Ant towers are generally 2 3 meters in size, and the tallest is 6 meters. It is mainly built with dirt and a small amount of termite secretions and excreta. This kind of building is very sturdy and will not collapse in wind and rain.

The most peculiar building materials used by the tower ants are that they are glued with their own saliva mixed with a flour-like substance, and when they dried, they become solid towers, and the towers are densely packed with caves and lanes that extend in all directions. What's especially amazing is that these building materials can still be eaten. In the case of bad weather, such as a long rain, unable to go out to collect food and the stored food has been exhausted, the tower ants will eat part of the building, and then repair it when the climate improves, the mystery of the ant tower is really wonderful.

Termites may even change the way we think about "thinking". A research project at Harvard's Wise Institute for Bioengineering brought computer scientists and roboticists to Turner's location. They use a sophisticated suite of scanners and software to observe termite behavior.

Harvard robotics professor Radhika Nagpal contrasted termite behavior with brain activity. Individual termites do not think, but react, but on a holistic level, they exhibit a cognitive ability and become aware of their surroundings. Similarly, in the brain, individual neurons do not think, but thinking arises from the connections between neurons.

For example, a single neuron may be able to recognize the smell of a baseball bat and a hot dog, but only by working together can they let you know you're at a baseball game. ）

Nagpal's research team did a number of experiments just to see how this collective cognition emerged. Harvard physicist Justin Werfel contrasted termites to robots and mused, "What program do they run?" Can we make a random model of a borderless robot that has no memory but can react to what it encounters? ”

It may be due to the fact that termites have relevant genes, so they have such superb construction skills.

This is the most common reptile insect in life. Together, they can carry heavy food and even build tall ant towers, and they are built so that they won't fall over in the wind or rain.

You can even build a very tall ant tower, and it is built so that it will not fall in the wind or rain.

As we all know, ants are very united insects, they can carry heavy things together, and can also build indestructible ant towers, the mystery of ant towers is very puzzling to scientists, and their high intelligence is incredible.

Together, they can carry heavy loads and build indestructible ant towers, which puzzle scientists very much about.

I think it's because termites are smarter, and that's probably their racial talent.

It's amazing that they can carry heavy food together.

Yes, termite colonies include queens, soldier ants, and worker ants.

In the population of termites, including females, males, workers and soldiers, among which workers are generally the smallest individuals in the group, but the largest number, they are female termites without reproductive ability, and the main responsibilities of workers are to build and expand nests, collect food, feed young ants and queens, etc.; Soldier ants are mainly used to defend anthills; The function of the female ant is to lay eggs, and the male ant is responsible for mating with the female.

Life HistoryThe survival, reproduction, and continuation of the species of termites are accomplished by breeding ants (winged adults). Every year from April to June is the breeding season of termite colonies, thousands of winged reproductive ants migrate out of the original colony nests, and the adult males and females form mates after winging, and once there is a suitable place they will survive and create a new colony, which is the beginning of another generation of termite colonies.

Termites begin to lay eggs about a week after mating, and the queen of prime age can lay tens of thousands of eggs per day and night, and the process of hatching the eggs into larvae is about 20 days. It takes about a month from the laying of eggs by the dewinged breeding ants to the birth of the first instar larvae, and the larvae can become adult worker ants and soldier ants in about a month after several molts.

It takes about 710 years for a mature termite colony to reproduce again when the winged breeding ants mate to the first generation of winged adults in the colony.

This reproduction and evolution within the termite kingdom continues to thrive and survive for almost 365 days a year during its 50 to 80 years of colony lifespan.

In our country, termites are the most serious species of termites that damage buildings. It is characterized by strong diffusion, large groups, rapid destruction, and can cause huge losses in a short period of time. Termites feed on cellulose, which is ubiquitous in nature.

Termites also use the secreted formic acid to corrode concrete and metal structures and damage modern buildings. Termites enter buildings in three main ways:

1. Enter the building through various underground pipelines and other passages;

Second, during the termite season, winged breeding ants can fly into these buildings;

3. Bringing wood or furniture that was harmed by termites into the building due to man-made reasons. After these termites enter the building, once they encounter a suitable living environment, they can build nests and multiply in it, and harm the building and its ancillary structures, furniture, books, etc.

There are three main ways for termites to invade buildings: flying, spreading and carrying.

1) "Separate flight": a variety of mature termite colonies can produce a certain number of breeding ants every year, and when the external environmental conditions are suitable, termites will fly separately and spread, which is the main way for termite damage to spread.

2) "Spread": In order to feed, termites take the ant nest as the center, spread from the underground or building pores and pipelines to the surrounding areas, and enter the building to carry out harmful activities.

3) "Carrying": In various activities such as decoration or relocation, people inadvertently bring various decoration materials, packaging materials, old furniture and other items that were harmed by the original termites to a new place, resulting in new hazards.

Termites fly in - Winged adults fly into the house from the outdoors and choose the right part to breed and nest and damage the building.

Remnants of original termites - there are termites in the foundation of the original house, which were not completely removed during construction.

Termite crawling – termite colonies in the surrounding environment extend through the soil layer into the building to feed on destruction.

Termites are brought in – Wood with termites is used to build new homes and make furniture, or to bring termite-laden debris indoors.

Termites are multimorphological, social insects with a strict division of labor, and once the colony is destroyed, it is difficult to continue to survive. There are more than 2,000 species known in the world, and they are widely distributed. In China, except for the Australian termite family, which has not yet been discovered, there are other 4 families, with a total of more than 300 species.

Termite mounds are sturdy and functional, inhabiting millions of termites, with spawning rooms, nursery rooms, tunnels (passages to obtain groundwater to moisten the nests), and ventilation ducts (using air convection to maintain the mound's room temperature), which cannot be compared with the top architects. The tall termite mounds in Africa and Australia, often made of more than 10 tons of earth, are meters high (up to 9 meters) and are conical tower-shaped, which is unique to the local landscape.