Page 146 - For Men of Understanding

TERMITES TOWERS
The role of termites among the architects of nature is indisputable. Termites,
which look very much like ants, live in imposing nests they make out of soil.
The height of these nests reach up to 6 m, and their width up to 12 m. The
most interesting thing is that these animals are blind.
The construction material of the nest is a hard resistant mortar which work-
ers make by blending their saliva with soil. The most extraordinary aspect of
the construction art of termites is that they provide continuous air to the colony
and keep the heat and moisture amazingly constant. The hard and thick walls
of the towers they make from soil seclude the inner part of the nest from the
heat outside. For air circulation, they make special corridors along the inner
walls of the nest. On the other hand, pores continuously filter the air.
For the oxygen needed by the inhabitants of a middle-sized nest, 1,500 litres
of air are required every day. If this air were taken directly into the nest, the
temperature of the nest would rise to a level that would be extremely risky for
termites. However, they have taken precautions against this as if they knew
what would later befall them.
They make damp cellars under the nest as a protection against excessive
heat. Species living in the Sahara dig an irrigation canal 40 m underground and
provide that water reaches the nest by evaporation. The thick walls of the
tower help maintain interior humidity.
Temperature control, just like humidity control, is done in a very sensible
and sensitive manner. The air outside passes through thin corridors lying on the
surface of the nest, enters moist cellars and reaches a hall at the top of the nest;
there, air warms by contacting the bodies of insects and rises. Thus, an air cir-
culation system, which is continuously inspected by colony workers, is pro-
vided by way of simple physical principles.
Outside the nest, a roof - which is sloped as a protection against floods -

and gutters strike the eye.
How do these living beings, with brains smaller than a cubic millimetre and
devoid of the sense of sight, accomplish such a complex construction?
The work of termites certainly is the outcome of collective work among
those creatures. Saying that "the insects dig independent tunnels and these hap-
pen to be in accord with each other" would be sheer nonsense. At this point,
however, we face a question: how do these animals work in harmony while
performing this complex job? We all know that when such a construction is
made by men, beforehand the construction is drawn by an architect, then the
plans are distributed to the workers, and all the construction is organised in a
work site. How could termites, which have no such communication among

144 For Men of Understanding