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.
