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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Thu Nov 22, 2018, 04:56 AM Nov 2018

4000-year-old, UK-sized network of termite mounds discovered in Brazil

4000-year-old, UK-sized network of termite mounds discovered in Brazil
By Ashley May
22 November 2018 — 5:21am

Millions of termite mounds believed to be nearly 4000 years old were discovered in a remote Brazilian forest, according to researchers.

There are about 200 million of them spanning across an area the size of Great Britain in Northeast Brazil, scientists estimate in research published in the journal Current Biology. Some of the cone-shaped mounds are as tall as 3 metres and as wide as 10 metres.

A single termite species is responsible for the massive network of tunnels that excavated enough soil to build 4000 great pyramids of Giza, Stephen Martin of the University of Salford in the UK said in a statement. Some of the mounds are still actively used by termites.

"This is apparently the world's most extensive bioengineering effort by a single insect species," Roy Funch of Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana in Brazil said.

More:https://www.watoday.com.au/world/south-america/4000-year-old-uk-sized-network-of-termite-mounds-discovered-in-brazil-20181122-p50hj9.html

Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122860819

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20 NOVEMBER 2018
4000-year-old termite mounds visible from space
Researchers find “the world's most extensive bioengineering effort by a single insect species”. Samantha Page reports.


ROY FUNCH

Thanks to deforestation, scientists have spotted an expanse of termite mounds in Brazil that are each about 2.5 metres tall, nine metres across, and regularly spaced across an area the size of Great Britain.

Described in the journal Current Biology, the mounds, still in use, are so large that they can be easily seen on Google Earth.

“This is apparently the world's most extensive bioengineering effort by a single insect species,” says co-author Roy Funch of Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana in Brazil.

“Perhaps most exciting of all, the mounds are extremely old — up to 4000 years, similar to the ages of the pyramids."

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/4000-year-old-termite-mounds-visible-from-space

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4000-year-old, UK-sized network of termite mounds discovered in Brazil (Original Post) Judi Lynn Nov 2018 OP
"thanks to deforestation" the article begins. It's now visible. Maine-i-acs Nov 2018 #1

Maine-i-acs

(1,496 posts)
1. "thanks to deforestation" the article begins. It's now visible.
Thu Nov 22, 2018, 09:29 AM
Nov 2018

turns my stomach.
"Look what used to be in the forest".

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