These mounds, sometimes shaped like crude castles, chimneys, or tombstone-shaped vertical slabs, can be found around the world. But the termites of Africa, Asia, and Australia build particularly large and imposing structures. Some African mounds, for instance, can be 20 feet high and house more than five million termites. Sophisticated designs that involve tunnels, buttressed walls, and ventilation systems ensure that temperatures inside the mound stay stable and warm, perfect for raising young. Some termites even create remarkable indoor greenhouses, where they plant and tend fungus gardens.
Workers bring bits of wood and vegetation for the fungus to grow on.
Their building and gardening skills have earned termites wide admiration. But their voracious appetite for wood has also made the insects widely feared.