The more and more I read about termites, the more I feel outsmarted by them. From Wikipedia:
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.
This very moment, the floor of Halle's nursery is spangled with the dead kings and queens that were pushed out of the swarm to form their own colonies. Enterprising little freaks. The US Department of Energy is researching ways to harvest the hydrogen produced by termites as an alternative power source through metagenomics. I don't care. I still don't want this anywhere near my baby's face:
(I didn't actually take this photo. I don't wanna know what the house looks like underneath, thank you!)
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