Scientists have found the world’s oldest inhabited termite mounds along the Buffels River in South Africa’s Namaqualand region in South Africa.
- Locally, these mounds are called heuweltjies (the word means “little hills” in Afrikaans).
- These termite mounds are inhabited by an underground network of tunnels and nests of the southern harvester termite, Microhodotermes viator.
- Some mounds date as far back as between 34,000 and 13,000 years. The oldest previously known inhabited mounds were 4,000 years old.
Ecosystem engineers
- Termites are called ecosystem engineers. They modify their soil surroundings to maintain ideal humidity and temperature conditions, and their foraging paths extend many tens of metres.
- Ecosystem engineers are species that modify their environment in a significant manner, creating new habitats or modifying existing ones to suit their needs.
- Examples of ecosystem engineers; Corals, Elephants, Gopher tortoise, Red-cockaded woodpecker, Eurasian beaver, European native oyster, Parrotfish, Kelp.
