How cathedral termites got to Australia to build their 'sky-scrapers'
Wednesday, February 22, 2017 - 14:31
in Earth & Climate
They build among the tallest non-human structures (proportionately speaking) in the world and now a pioneering study has found the termites that live in Australia's remote Top End originated from overseas -- rafting vast distances and migrating from tree-tops to the ground, as humans later did. They adapted to significant environmental changes, including increasingly arid conditions and changed from wood- to grass-eaters, with their ground-based fortresses are now a prominent feature of remote areas 'Down Under'.