These Termite Mounds Are 4,000 Years Old — And Still In Use

By Roni Dengler
Nov 19, 2018 8:19 PMOct 25, 2019 4:31 PM
termite mounds
This image shows mound fields. The mounds are found in dense, low, dry forest caatinga vegetation and can be seen when the land is cleared for pasture. (Credit: Roy Funch)

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Two hundred million mounds of dirt dot an area about the size of Great Britain in a tropical forest in northeastern Brazil. The cone-shaped dirt piles are roughly twice as tall as the average American man and stretch 30 feet across at the base. The mounds, the work of countless generations of termites, rise from the earth every 65 feet or so and are visible from space.

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