Page 64 - The Miracle of Termites

Harun Yahya

Termites' antennas are so sensitive that they can detect by its scent
whether another termite is a member of their colony. In addition, ev-
ery termite species and even every nest within the same termite spe-
cies has its own odor. The fact that termites can differentiate these
scents makes them experts in the art of "smelling." And their antennae
serve as the most effective means of monitoring the security of the

nest.
Scientists have investigated how blind termites can know when
another insect tries to enter their nest and how they can recognize that
other termites are not members of their colony. Chemical analyses
(spectrometry and gas chromatography) of the scent that termites ex-
ude have definitely shown that different species of termites (e.g.
Reticulitermes santonensis and Reticulitermes lucifugus grassei) exude dif-
ferent scents. 26
Besides this, when researchers transferred the shell or carapace of

a termite from one nest onto a termite from another nest, they found
that every time the foreign termite carrying the scent of the first nest
tried to enter the second one, it was expelled.
Such expertise in smelling is not an ability that termites could
have acquired later in their development. Every termite must have
been born with this system already in place, because blind termites
couldn't have survived without their antennae. Their ability to find di-

rections and to defend themselves and the colony all depends on their
antennae's ability to recognize signals sent by the queen. This also
shows that termites' antennae were created at the same time as their
secretion glands, together with all the other components that make up
their systems.

A Creature that can Break Through a Security
System

Though termites' security precautions are extremely effective, this

62 THE MIRACLE OF TERMITES