Guys, this is crazy!
Truly a spectacular opportunity to watch what actually happens, when a paired termite king
and queen start their colony.
This termite species is special, because unlike the notorious pestiferous termites which eat
wood in houses, these termites feed on fungus, which the termites grow in massive underground
fungus gardens.
In essence, these termites farm their own food, and the fungus they eat, is also a special
species of fungus that depend on the termites to survive, and are only found within the
nests of this specific species of termite, and nowhere else.
So when I captured a bunch of termite kings and queens over two months ago and raised
them all in test tubes, only 1 lucky pair has managed to get to this point.
Today, you get to witness something no one, to the best of my knowledge, has ever documented
on video before, because this usually happens within the darkness and privacy of the termites’
founding chambers underground.
It’s the start of a fungus-growing termite colony and their special termite fungus garden.
Welcome to the AntCanada Ant Channel, termite edition!
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Welcome to the AC Family!
Enjoy!
AC Family, OK before I continue, I actually don’t know with 100% certainty that this
fungus is indeed the fabled ‘termite fungus’ scientists talk about when describing the
unique behaviours of this fungus-growing termite species, but by the end of this video, when
I show you all the things I filmed, you guys tell me if you think this is indeed a successful
pair of termites that managed to grow a termite fungus garden!
This episode is actually part 2 of last week’s episode which you can watch here after this
video if you need a backgrounder.
But now, let’s enter the termite tubes!
A newborn termite smells the air with its antennae, taking in all the strange smells
and vibrations it can feel where it stands.
It had just emerged from its egg about a day ago, and was fascinated by the strange world
all around.
I find the little guy cute, don’t you, guys?
Now I say ‘little guy’ but this can in fact be a male or a female worker termite,
seeing as in termites workers can be both.
Not too far away, are the termite’s parents, a hard working and pioneering king and queen
termite, who got “married” two months ago and are now bound together for life, in
hopes to build a future termite colony.
They clean a couple babies that were just a few hours old, emerged from their eggs.
This here is the what I believe to be the King, and this the Queen, and there’s a
pile of other newborns which were still learning to gain their footing.
But this baby termite, perhap the very first born of the colony had a very important purpose
ahead.
It would need to help find the colony food.
Now here’s the problem, as mentioned, these termites feed on fungus, and not just any
fungus, a special fungus that is found nowhere else in nature except the nests of their species
of termite.
It’s a symbiotic relationship where both the termites and the fungus depend on each
other for survival.
But where on earth was this baby termite going to find some termite-specific fungus?
That has been the great question keeping me up at night over the past few weeks.
You see, I actually now have several of these termite colonies at this very stage where
the first generation of workers are emerging from the eggs inside their test tubes, and
I have no idea where to get the special fungus to feed them!
When last week’s episode aired, many of you termite fanatics chimed in with very useful
information.
This comment by Adam Ants says that although it isn’t exactly known how the termites
start their fungus gardens, they are not started by the king and queen, but rather by workers
who need to forage and collect special spores from the wild, and bring these spores back
to the nest to start growing the fungus.
The fungus is brown grey in colour, and produces little white balls which the termites harvest
and eat.
Another comment from Cicada Fun mentioned that the termite fungus actually sprout mushrooms
from termite nests, and these mushrooms then expel their spores out into the environment
which stick to decaying leaves and such, and the termite workers then forage for and take
home to their own nests this spore-laiden debris to start the fungus gardens.
If that was the case, I think it would be time for me to take a trip back to the original
place I found the termites and look for termite hills with mushrooms growing on them, and
just scoop up all the earth, detritus, wood, and leaves in the area to hopefully scoop
up the spores these termites needed to start their fungus gardens.
I knew that collecting the fungus spores these termites needed would be a challenge, but
what I saw next filled my heart with so much joy.
AC Family, behold a test tube full of fungus!
In last week’s video, I mentioned that in some of the termite test tubes, I added some
sticks, decaying leaves, and soil just in case they contained spores the termites needed
or in case the termite kings and queens needed to eat the stuff or somehow use it to fertilize
their fungus gardens.
Not sure, but in last week's episode, I mentioned that in the end all of the termite test tubes
with this extra added stuff ended up failing and completely molding up, killing the termites
within.
But AC Family, I was wrong!
I don’t know how I missed it, but somewhere at the bottom of the pile of my termite test
tubes, I did find this particular test tube with a living king and queen, brood, and a
thriving fungus culture!
Have a look!
OK, so what do you guys think?
Could this just be ordinary mold growing on our decaying leaves, sticks, and soil?
Or could the termites actually be culturing their fungus garden?
I was spellbound, as I watched the termites taking chewed up balls of cotton and fixating
them around the periphery of the fungus.
To me, it really looked as though the termites were not just randomly taking these balls
and placing them in various places.
It really looked to me like the termites were carefully culturing a fungus garden.
Don’t you guys think?
I could see tonnes of these chewed up cotton fiber balls all throughout the fungus growth.
Isn’t that just crazy?
This to me looked like it fit the description: grey brown fungus, and then about the little
white balls which the termites supposedly harvest and eat, look at this!
I watched as one of the termites began to eat what looked like it came from the fungus
growth.
Could that be the fabled termite fungus?
I had so many questions.
I also caught one of the termites eating their old wings!
Wow, well there’s a way to recycle nutrients!
But as I watched the termite chewing up its wings, that’s when I also caught sight of
this cute one.
Adorable!
The first termite worker had arrived!
How cute!
Now, check this out, guys!
As I watched the termite royal chewing on a piece of what could have been fungus from
the fungus wall, I caught the baby worker also checking it out, too.
So this is where I’d like to hear what you guys think!
But before I continue with my questions for you on this whole situation, I wanted to quickly
mention that I’ll be part of Animal Con this year in Orlando, Florida, happening at
the end of this month between Aug 26-28.
I’ll be having a meet and greet, be doing a talk, and participating in panels along
with some of your favourite animal creators on youtube!
I’ll be flying halfway across the globe to meet you guys so do get your tickets now
at AnimalConUSA.com!
Alright now back to the termites: Do you think these termites are indeed tending to a fungus
garden?
As always in science, it seems finding answers to questions often lead to many more questions.
Watching these termite colonies grow over the past 2 months, has been such a wild journey
of discovery!
I've learned that like ants, termite life is extremely unique, and largely kept top
secret by Mother Nature.
My curiosity is just running wild!
I wanna know how these fungus-growing termite colonies start, and I’ll do everything in
my power to find out and experience it first hand, especially because scientists currently
don’t know a lot about these termites, and it is apparently highly debated how these
termite colonies start.
What we are all doing here following these termite colonies is valuable to science.
I will continue to document both the termites living with this fungus, as well as the test
tubes with colonies devoid of fungus.
At some point, I will also try to make a trip back to where I collected the termites and
see if I can find a termite mound with mushrooms so I could collect the surrounding dirt, sticks,
and leaves, and hey even take entire mushrooms back with me.
I could easily bury the test tubes into a terrarium and sprinkle what I collect on its
surface so the termites can do what they normally do in the wild and hopefully grow their fungus
gardens.
If however, this colony here is in fact successfully growing and starting up the legendary fungus
I’ve been hoping they would, that would definitely be the coolest win EVER!
I'll keep you all updated!
So be sure to subscribe to the channel to be part of this journey of discovery and find
out what happens to these termite colonies over time.
Until next week, thank you all for watching and supporting the ants and termites.
It's ant and termite love forever.