Termiten compass

1994/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia

Australians have baptized the place shown in the image below with the name “magnetic ant-hill” or “magnetic ant mound”. In fact, these special image panels are not made by ants, but by termites called Amilermes meridionalis. Insects build termitatories in the north-south direction, that is, following the direction of the compass.

According to entomologists, termites use their home as a solar panel. The orientation of the termitatories varies from place to place, especially in the cooler places.