Underbug summary

So, what are termites? If you got that question at a pub quiz, you’d probably start by saying that they’re insects, right? Well, for a long time, this seemingly obvious fact – the “bugginess” of termites – just wasn’t something that people noticed. Instead, what they saw when they looked at insects was a reflection of themselves.  

The key message here is: Like other social insects, termites have long been seen as mirrors of human society. 

Take a close look at an individual termite and you’ll see a bug about the size of a fingernail clipping with a bulbous, eyeless head and a translucent body filled with guts. On its own, it’s about as ugly and unimpressive as it gets. But if you really want to understand termites, you have to look beyond the individual. 

Termites are eusocial, a term used by biologists to describe the highest level of sociality known among animals. It’s characterized by collective child-rearing and a division of labor between fertile and non-fertile “castes.” 

Place a single termite in a petri dish, and it will aimlessly toddle around. Add another 40, and they’ll form a herd and circle the dish with great purpose. Throw a few thousand termites and some mud into a massive dish, however, and they’ll begin building surreal structures that, in nature, can reach heights of between 8 and 30 feet.

But these aren’t buildings in the regular sense – they also appear to have a life of their own. 

If you follow the northbound highway from the Namibian capital Windhoek you’ll encounter vast fields full of statuesque mounds. These massive structures are built by termites of the Macrotermes genus. Incredibly, each of these mounds inclines at exactly the same angle – 19 degrees from north, the position of the sun at this latitude. These termites clearly prefer building in the sunshine. 

As much as these monuments speak to the impressive soil-shifting labor and spatial awareness of termites, it’s what happens below the surface that’s truly remarkable. 

Unlike some of their predecessors, scientists today have learned to appreciate the “bugginess” of termites. When they peer into termite mounds, they no longer see idle aristocrats, alienated factory workers, or socialist commonwealths. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn something from these strange creatures. In fact, termites might just hold the key to an energy revolution. 

The key message here is: Termites’ guts could help us produce biofuels. 

Imagine thousands of individuals working together to build the Empire State Building without anyone telling them what to do or when to do it. It’s hard to picture, isn’t it? Well, how about if you subtract human intelligence, memory, and the ability to learn. Oh, and no one on this anarchical building site has a clue about architecture or engineering. Can it be done? 

Sure – if you’re a termite.