4,225 km (2,625 miles) from home here in Launceston, Tasmania, is Litchfield NP in the Northern Territory of Australia. A long way from home for sure, it took many days to travel there a few years ago.
Magnetic and Cathedral Termite Mounds near Litchfield National Park in the Northern Territory. The mounds are up to 2 meters tall and can live up to a hundred years.
Magnetic termites build them.
Each mound has a single Queen who lays all the eggs alongside a massive workforce of blind, soft-skinned worker termite and defensive soldier termites that protect the nest using sticky secretions.
Natural predators are ants, if they get inside where the termites are and not stopped, they will kill the termites.
The Wedge shape mounds have a thin edge of the blade-like mounds that point directly north and south, while the broad flat sides face east and west. They are built this way by the termites to keep their home cool.
Their name, Magnetic Termite comes from the uncanny, compass-like orientation of their massive mounds.
Magnetic Termite act as grazing herbivores, feeding on surface vegetation, leaves, and dry grass in the tropical savannas of Northern Australia.
They are really big!
ReplyDeleteThey sure are massive.
DeleteOh my wonderful Margaret...how beautiful you are in this 'grand' nature...wonderful shot!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThe mounds are unique and absolutely beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThey are indeed Angie.
DeleteThey are huge, Margaret.
ReplyDeleteThey are Linda, that one I'm standing next to was once of the larger ones in that area.
DeleteWow, they are huge—I've never seen anything like that, except maybe on TV!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!hugs Elke
You are welcome, and I hadn't seen such large ones either until we visited there.
DeleteThey look very big! Nature is amazing. Take care, Margaret.
ReplyDeleteNature sure is amazing, and each creature is put on earth to do their job.
DeleteGoodness! The Termite Mounds do look huge.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you in one of the photographs and looking at the map you certainly were a long way from home.
All the best Jan
Yes a very long way from home Jan, a lovely trip that year. Thank you.
DeleteThey would be quite fascinating to study. I didn't know about the threat from ants.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how ants can kill them, who would have thought.
DeleteWow! Just wow!
ReplyDeleteAmazing isn't it Bill.
DeleteA very interesting post. I didn't realize ants were their enemy. Fascinating to learn about them, thank you very much Margaret!
ReplyDeleteYou would think ants and termites got on well, but not the case. There is always something that kills something, it's the matter of knowing what is what, and who i who, Denise.
DeleteUy. Te mando un beso
ReplyDeleteThanks and same to you.
DeleteI always thought there was one or two mounds in an area, but you have a picture with a whole field of mounds! They are quite pretty.
ReplyDeleteWe were surprised to see so many R in the one area, as they are usually scattered here and there, it was a bit magic standing there seeing all the mounds.
Deleteholy heck if I came across a termite tower in nature, I think I'd freak out. I had no idea they lived in things that big.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, never saw a termite on the ground, did look from memory and for snakes as well. Massive the mounds.
DeleteNadpis jsem pochopila i bez překladače! 😸 Překvapila mě velikost těchto termitišť, určitě k tomu přispívá i podnebí Severního teritoria. Tady u nás nic takového není. Tak jako v Tasmánii tohle nebude.
ReplyDeleteFascinuje, jak to mají ti mravenci uspořádané, královna a pak dělnice a jak si to své dovedou bránit! Výborná je ta předposlední fotka, na ní je vidět, kolik těchto "staveb" v krajině je. Úžasné a díky za podívanou. ☺
You are welcome. It's interesting the termites and their mounds. No we don't have them down here, too cool.
DeleteSon estructuras bastante interessante. No había visto nada igual.
ReplyDeleteMe ha encantado la publicación.
Thank you. I find interesting post too, objects, landscapes, animals and so on that I've never seen or never seen in person. Sometimes we get surprised by what is on earth.
DeleteThose wedge-shaped mounds pointing precisely north-south to stay cool are such a clever piece of natural engineering, and the fact that a single Queen runs the whole colony for up to a hundred years is genuinely astonishing. 4,225 km is a proper trek to see them, Margaret — well worth it by the look of that field of mounds.
ReplyDeletehttps://canalsandcitrus.blogspot.com
Certainly worth the travel from home here in Tasmania to go all that way but then you see other beautiful things along the way and back when driving. If you go by aeroplane you miss so much of the scenery and so on.
DeleteClever creatures are the termites but then most creatures are.
Termite mounds are so efficient there are architects who design buildings incorporating the sophistication found in them.
ReplyDeleteThey are good architects that is for sure like so many insects.
DeleteThis is truly beautiful to see, Margaret.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know termite mounds could get so high.
I wish you a wonderful weekend.
All the best, Irma
We were very surprised when we came across these tall ones, Iram. As you travel along in certain areas of Australia you often see termite mounds that are shorter scattered about, but then to come across the ones in the photo was such a delight.
DeleteYou have a good weekend too and thank you.
Certainly almighty to witness
ReplyDeleteCertainly is and not to be missed if in the area.
DeleteQue impressionante! A natureza é mágica mesmo!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is magical.
DeleteAmazing!
ReplyDeleteYou look good in the pic !!
Oh my, so much younger there but retired we were. Thank you.
DeleteThey are true marvels; seeing how you do it and how they survive—they are natural monuments.
ReplyDeleteBest regards.
They are indeed monuments and from memory there was a board there about the termites, but I didn't take a photo of it.
DeleteWow, totally amazing!
ReplyDeleteThey sure are Bill.
DeleteQue interesante Margaret, me ha encantado verlos y saber de ellos. Abrazos.
ReplyDeleteThank you Teresa.
DeleteQuerida Margaret, si que te había dejado comentarios, los blog están muy mal últimamente, aunque parece que ya van un poquito mejor. Más abrazos.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Teresa. Blogger sure is a problem at the moment, hopefully soon it will all be fixed.
DeleteOh wow.. what a sight!
ReplyDeleteSure is and something very different.
DeleteWow, those mounds are amazing! I've never seen anything quite like it. Thanks for the interesting post!
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome and I'm pleased you enjoyed the post of something different from me. Thanks.
DeleteI had no idea they were so big.
ReplyDeleteThere are large but not all of them are as big as these that we have seen in certain areas of our travels.
Deletewow they are huge I didn't know they were so big either
ReplyDeleteNeither did we until we came across the ones in the photos, Jo-Anne.
DeleteThose mounds are incredible, Margaret! The way the termites orient them like natural compasses is just fascinating. Hard to imagine such tiny creatures building something so tall and lasting for a century.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe that termites can do that, Veronica. Clever creatures.
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Margaret, I wish you a wonderful day. Best regards.
Thank you. You have a good one too.
DeleteDear Margaret,
ReplyDeleteI found this absolutely fascinating. I had heard of termite mounds before, of course, but I did not know about these magnetic ones and their remarkable north-south orientation.
It amazes me that such tiny creatures can create structures that may stand for a hundred years and are so cleverly designed to regulate the temperature inside. Nature seems to have produced some very accomplished architects long before we humans came along!
I was also surprised to read that there is only one queen in each mound and that ants are such dangerous enemies of the colony. There is an entire little world hidden inside something that, from a distance, might simply look like an unusual mound of earth.
And 4,225 kilometres from Launceston! Australia really does have a way of reminding us Europeans just how enormous the country is.
Thank you for showing us something I knew very little about. I found this really interesting.
Warm greetings,
Anette
Anette, I'm so pleased you enjoyed the post. Yes, Australia is vast and it takes many days to get to so many of the places. Most people live down the mid-east coast, lower west coast and then Adelaide in South Australia.
DeleteTermites are so clever, I've seen a photo of inside the mounds and that was mind blowing, all the tunnels. Thank you for your lovely comment.
How fascinating, especially the orientation and reason for their names. They are just gigantic.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe they are so big, well some of them Mandy. Clever creature those termites.
DeleteSono davvero giganteschi.
ReplyDeleteMai avrei pensato ad una cosa simile.
Hard to believe they are so big, well some of them are.
DeleteWow! This is amazing. I've never seen anything like this. In fact I've never heard of them before. I have to agree with others, it's fascinating. Thank you for always bringing such rich knowledge to us.
ReplyDeleteTermites are fascinating creature, so small yet a wonderful mind.
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