How do termites communicate when they are in trouble

Uros Osmokrovic 9A

Science project

As we speak about termites we can’t mention where do they come from. They are in family of insects. They are related to cockroach. Termites are called White ants in Australia. They just look like ant but they are different. Most of them are herbivore. They eat old wood, even some mushrooms. (picture 1).

   

This is how termite eats wood. You can see that this is worker because of white body.

They live in big groups. You can separate worker from solider termite. Workers are white, but solider has darker skin. They make their own nests out of earth and their spit. Some termites can make very big nests (picture 2).

Nest of the termites (picture 2).

 Termites have really interesting way of communication. When termites go to find food there is big chance to get caught. If they get caught they just dig up a hole and just bump their head against the ground. Because they have built tunnels in the ground that vibration that he makes can be heard in 130 m long. Other termites starts bumping their head too.  They feel that vibrations with their legs. They first feel with one with leg which is nearest to source, then they will feel with other legs. Other termites (solider) make group, and then they go to help the termite in trouble.

Maybe we can’t see that this is an important scientific story , but if we go deeper in it we can see that these termites make oscillation as they communicate. We know that oscillation is very important part of physics. Termites are not the only ones who communicates like this. We discovered how the termites communicates when they are in trouble, this can be important discovery because we are now one step closer on understanding insects. Until  now we found that insects can communicate by senses, by the dance (bees) and so on. Insects may be tiny but they are important. Here we can learn lesson. When you are small it does not mean that you are not important.

Sources:

1. .          https://student.societyforscience.org/article/how-termites-%E2%80%98hear%E2%80%98-about-trouble
2.             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termite