June 3rd 2011
This high-quality video show the raid of a termite hill by an army of ants. Its a compilation, so even if this attack is fictional, all those events have been recorded without any modification(ants and termites are fighting since 200 millions years) Here is the link of the music used: www.youtube.com (musics compiled by DragonStarDT)
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January 25th 2011
In this video you will find the eclosing(hatching of a worker) of a worker and a tour through one of my larger Carpenter ant colonies. I show each chamber and explain a bit about the colony and the chambers along the way.
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June 26th 2010
Termites build one of the most sophisticated homes in all animals and insects. Jeez, they have a better cooling system than i do or at least a more environment friendly one. hehe. Extra info on Termites : As eusocial insects, termites live in colonies that, at maturity, number from several hundred to several million individuals. They are a prime example of decentralised, self-organised systems using swarm intelligence and use this cooperation to exploit food sources and environments that could not be available to any single insect acting alone. A typical colony contains nymphs (semi-mature young), workers, soldiers, and reproductive individuals of both genders, sometimes containing several egg-laying queens. Termites has one of the most complex of house making techniques. It is called a Mound. In tropical savannas the mounds may be very large, with an extreme of 9 metres (30 ft) high in the case of large conical mounds constructed by some Macrotermes species in well-wooded areas in Africa. The sculptured mounds sometimes have elaborate and distinctive forms, such as those of the compass termite (Amitermes meridionalis & A. laurensis) which build tall wedge-shaped mounds with the long axis oriented approximately north-south. This orientation has been experimentally shown to help in thermoregulation. The column of hot air rising in the above ground mounds helps drive air circulation currents inside the subterranean network. The structure of these mounds can be quite complex …
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March 12th 2010
DVD this is pulled from only available from the UK: bit.ly This bit about termites is so amazing, that it completely altered my understanding of the social order and man’s supposed dominance of it. This termite colony’s complex and unlikely construction is truly a testament to the incredible power of natural selection. The structure has air conditioning, a sewage system, food storage, fungus cultivation, and would be over a mile high if built to human scale. Truly astounding. Watch for the creepy shots of the termite queen near the end to see James Cameron’s obvious inspiration for the queen at the end of Aliens.
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