Finding the first fungus farmers
Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - 08:31
in Biology & Nature
The development of farming was a key milestone in human history, but as a species we were quite late to the party. Insects got there first! One of the best documented examples happens in the termite world, where some species "farm" fungus as a food source. Although many termites simply use their guts and gut bacteria to extract nutrients, an African group called macrotermitines grow fungus on excreted pellets of partly digested plant matter. The termites then eat these fungi, which provide a nice dose of more easily accessible goodies.