Termites at Work

“The one thing the termites do not do when experimentally disturbed is act panicky. They don’t start running pell-mell, pushing and shoving, or clambering over the fallen. They don’t behave like people in a crowded theater when somebody yells fire, or like stampeding walruses, or, for that matter, like ants whose nest has been harrowed. Instead, the researchers found that when they placed 110 termites on round plastic dishes and gave the plates a shake, the termites started running in an extremely orderly, rules-based fashion, depending on whether they were ordinary workers or soldiers dedicated to nest defense. The workers fell into single-file formation. The ones in front decided whether to turn left or right, and the rest followed in a unidirectional flow at a uniform speed and spacing. For their part, the soldiers migrated to either side of the flow, snapping their huge mandibles as though preparing to do battle. Round and round the dishbound termites trotted, fruitlessly but never frantically seeking an exit. If one termite stumbled or slowed down, those behind would stop and wait for it to right itself: No trampling allowed.”

—From “Termites: Guardians of the Soil,” Natalie Angier’s New York Times story about how the tiny insects are crucial to a variety of healthy ecosystems

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