this mound is the Fortress for macro
termes
termites a colony a million
strong a termite Mound is just the Hub
of an underground city 6 kilm of
foraging
tunnels termites now face the flooding
of their
colony they beat a h y Retreat to the
safety of their Mound as their tunnels
start to flood and
collapse but in doing so something
miraculous happens the tunnels seal
themselves
up this blocks the flood’s underground
advance and forces the water back to the
surface back inside the mound
the termites are
safe incredibly the flood provides just
the opportunity they
need their fragile castle made of sand
requires constant maintenance and
rebuilding but the soil now softened by
flood water is easy to transport to
damaged parts of the mound
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gradually thousands of termites
reconstruct their
Fortress repairing these Mounds isn’t
just good for the
termites these structures help to create
something vital for all the Deltas
Wildlife its
Islands
and it all
starts like
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this dong ready-made fertilizer Laden
with fruits and
seeds flood water soaks up the dry side
slopes of the mound to create the
perfect bedding for new
plants
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gradually season by season termite
Mounds become home to more and more
plants
as they grow they attract more animals
which in turn bring with them the seeds
to grow even more plants Sycamore fig
fan Pam
marula until the termite Mounds are
barely recognizable under their lush
green
canopies as it floods raised areas
around termite Mounds become
Islands they provide food shelter and a
refuge throughout the year for
everything from elephants to baboons and
birds in the Delta once featureless
desert there are now around
150,000 such
Islands
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