World’s oldest termite mounds discovered in South Africa – and they’ve been storing precious carbon for thousands of years

World’s oldest termite mounds discovered in South Africa – and they’ve been storing precious carbon for thousands of years

Purple spring flowers growing on termite mounds in Namaqualand. A Potts, Author providedThe landscape along the Buffels River in South Africa’s Namaqualand region is dotted with thousands of sandy mounds that occupy about 20% of the surface area. These heuweltjies, as the locals call them (the word means “little hills” in Afrikaans), are termite mounds, inhabited by an underground network of tunnels and nests of the southern harvester termite, M…

World's oldest termite mounds discovered in South Africa - and they've been storing precious carbon for thousands of years

There is growing evidence that termites have a substantial, but still poorly understood, role in the carbon cycle.