Amazing Mound Termites

Mound-building termites are a group of termite species that live in mounds which are made of a combination of soil, termite saliva and dung. These termites live in Africa, Australia and South America. The largest recorded termite mound is 19 feet wide, and the tallest is 41 feet tall. Termite mounds are large because they provide a ventilation system for the colony of termites that live underground.  Termites carefully construct mounds that are composed of a series of tunnels for air flow and also traveling when they are foraging for food. A mature termite colony can have anywhere from 50,000 to several hundred thousand termites, to more than one million.  However, a typical mound only contains around 33 pounds (15 kilograms) of termites. You may ask how many mounds can be found in one area? Northeast Brazil has about 200 million termite mounds spread over an area the size comparable to the US state of Oregon. These massive Termite mounds are so large they can be seen from space!