Own research: Termites (Isoptera)

During my visit in Kenya, Taita hills I studied a bit termites. 

Impala antilope standing next to a termite mound in the Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary.

Termites belong to the order of insects. They are typically 10 mm long and their composition is soft. The closest relatives to termites are cockroaches and praying mantises. Termites live in a community. The community changes repeatedly for one individual to a million. Usually in a community there is a king and a queen, soldier termites and worker termites.

 

There are three steps in termites life journey. First the worms develop and their wings grow. After that they fly to their honeymoon. Second step is that their wings fall down and they establish a mound. Third step is that they raise their first termites workers (feminines and males) by themselves. Then they have enough workers to take care of the mound. Some of the termites will change to be soldiers. Soldiers protect the mound and the workers. 

 

Termites have an important role in the carbon cycle. They eat wood and carry it to the mound in their stomach and defecate it in the mound.The mounds are build by a composition of the feces and the soil and that is why the mounds are always the same colour than the soil. Termites feed the feces to the mycelium (mushroom) which live and grow in the mounds. The termites, feces and mushroom generate to of gases in the mounds which is released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. There are several termite and mushroom species in the Taita hills.

 

In the Taita hills the termites are a little bit hindrance because termites try to rustle up every wood that they found. They destroy people´s homes and furniture. That is why people paint their wood furniture in black. People also eat termites. They have some kind of traditional soup made from termites. I did not have a change to taste that but they said it is delicious. 

Termite mound on the slope of Maktau hill called Ndolwa.

 Venla Pellikka