DEVASTATION…

These insects neither bite nor sting and are particularly discreet… yet their attacks can be devastating. And when they arrive in great number, it is difficult to oppose them.
Veritable warriors, these tiny creatures older than 100 million years are interested above all in wood. And there-fore sometimes in what we regard as our most precious possessions, our homes, for example. In New Orleans in the state of Louisiana in the United States, the situation is so serious that the local population no longer knows what to do. The region is victim to the most destructive of xylophagous termites. Their favourite playground: houses, above all the wood from which they are built, notably in the French quarter. Nibbling away at all wooden structures from the inside, these creatures op-erate in the dark with infinite discretion. But when the houses, trees, electricity poles and other wooden edi-fices collapse, their destructive activities are brought into the light of day.
Today, legions of very aggressive new enemies that have illegally entered the country from Asia have New Orleans in their grip. Not being fussy, the Formosan ter-mites will attack any type of wood without exception. Trees are in fact their favourite target, so much so that one tree in four is infested by termites. Hundreds of trees must be cut down each year in New Orleans.

WE'LL TRY ANYTHING !

And the Grand Prix for Imagination in the battle against termites goes to… the Americans! In New Orleans, where the invasion is massive, the population puts its hand into its pocket to combat termites. Termite man-dibular attacks cost each resident of New Orleans close to $1700 per year. So the battle is fierce, and different methods rival with each other in the attempt to eliminate this scourge. For the moment, the most effective meth-ods use poisons: direct bombing of the enemy, the poi-son bait strategy, intensive gassing of infested places, each to his own method. In fact, thousands of houses are gassed each year, a radical solution that obliges residents to leave their homes for 48 hours.
In New Orleans, insurance companies refuse to cover the termite risk. And it is impossible to buy a house with-out a certificate proving their absence. As a result, many infested houses cannot be sold.
Commissioned by the municipality, Gregg Henderson of the University of Baton Rouge in New Orleans is looking at new directions for insecticides, notably insecticides better adapted to the tree devastators. When a tree is cut down, Gregg is there. Once the tree is felled, he re-moves the termite nest and carries out a census. The Americans’ latest idea: anti-termite brigades composed almost exclusively of… dogs! Extremely useful in detect-ing termites in a house, trained dogs develop the ability to detect them even through a partition. Interesting, es-pecially when you know that this is where 85% of ter-mites hide.
But other nations do not lag behind in these new meth-ods of combat. Notably in France where they listen in to termites… Termites are discreet, but when you hold your ear or a microphone up to a wall, they betray themselves very quickly. The sound of the workers’ mandibles cut-ting through the wood or of their stomachs, not forgetting the soldier termites who bang their heads when they feel threatened… these are all undeniable signs of their presence.

THE TERMITE FAN CLUB

Whereas some ferociously combat the termite scourge, others venerate, savour or implore them… Termite fans are alive and well, but manifest their passion in different ways.
In Africa, even if schoolchildren are taught the Western opinion of termites (termite=pest) many ethnic groups are especially interested in them. In Ivory Coast, the Kru ethnic group organises termite feasts. When the termites are swarming, at the beginning of the rainy season, huge fires are lit to attract them. The captured winged termites are then savoured for their high calorie content. And when the big rains do not come, it is a simple matter to call upon the rainmaker… In Central Africa, another group, the Manjas, adore eating termites. These verita-ble termite hunters do not even wait for the rain, they capture the termites in the course of a ceremony com-bining drums and singing. The apotheosis of the cere-mony is the capture of the termite queen, who will also be devoured but only by women. Thought to enable women to become fertile or to prolong their youth, the queen is in fact a gigantic pouch swollen with eggs.
The queen lays an egg per second on average, in other words, 30 million new termites per year… She also commands a troop of termite soldiers that surround her day and night. These soldier termites are reserved for men during the ceremony, because it is strictly forbidden for them to eat the queen, the risk being a diminution of libido… Another Centrafrican ethnic group, the Nzakara, practise a veritable termite cult, termites constituting one of the oracles they consult most frequently. The ritual consists of placing batons on termite nests. The termites reply by devouring or sparing these batons… In Benin too, the termite cult flourishes: certain termite mounds, such as that of Savalou, are sacred. Considered to be the homes of gods, these termite mounds are visited regularly by the population, who make animal sacrifices there, most often to ensure a good harvest.
In Australia, the aborigines use termites as little workers. Indeed, termites participate in the fabrication of a musi-cal instrument that is more than 1000 years old: the "yi-daki" also known as the "didgeridoo". The didgeridoo is in fact a branch of a eucalyptus tree that has been hol-lowed out by termites, and which produces a sound when you blow into it. The eucalyptus branch is a spiri-tual symbol of the aboriginal culture and termites are precious auxiliaries in the manufacture of this instru-ment.
As for the Japanese, they respect termites while doing their utmost to get rid of them. Kaido Sun, a termite ex-terminator, prays for his victims once a year. In a very special ceremony, termite executioners gather together to ensure that the termites rest in peace and to pray for the scientists, now deceased, who have dedicated their lives to termites.

TERMITE ARCHITECTS

Some termites prefer the profession of architect. If you take a closer look at termite nests, you will see that they are often miniature marvels of architectural and spatial organisation. Macrotermes termites build the equivalent of our cathedrals, and the humivorous termites are truly temple builders.
In the Australian outback, magnetic termites never lose their way! Their homes are only a few centimetres wide on the north-south axis, but can measure up to several metres on the east-west axis. Thus at midday, the burn-ing sun irradiates only a small surface of their habitat, whereas in the morning and evening the sunrays fall upon the other sides. This is climate control! The ter-mites gather on the eastern side in the morning and on the western side in the evening, thus finding the ideal temperature at all times of the day.
Another technique for temperature regulation : chimneys made of soil, which can reach up to eight metres in height in cathedral termite mounds, and which draw cool air from the depths of the nest in the day, releasing at night the sun’s heat stored during the day. This model has inspired certain architects. For example in England, where the Nottingham Taxation Centre and the Univer-sity of Leicester possess chimneys that allow them to regulate cool air in the buildings.
In Scotland, Sandy Halliday, of Gaia Architects, is in-spired directly for her animal architecture projects. She hopes to have her project, inspired by the chimney of a termite nest, accepted for the Edinburgh Zoo.
More original yet: termite dejections can be used as ce-ment! Termite excrement in fact contains non-degraded sugars that act like super-glue. The termites use their dejections to repair rapidly any breaks in the termite nest caused by intruders. Sandy hopes that one day it will in-spire humans to develop a more environmentally friendly cement…

TERMITE FARMERS

Termites can also help farmers in their work. In Burkina Faso, farmers employ termites as recyclers and labour-ers. The greed of termites is in fact put to good use by certain farmers through the zai technique. This consists of attracting termites with straw or with zebu excrement covering the ground; the termites dig their tunnels un-derneath, thereby assisting with soil irrigation. But many farmers remain sceptical about the effectiveness of this technique. And so termites are regularly given roles in popular plays aimed at promoting these techniques to reticent farmers.
Occasionally, termites demonstrate real talent as farm-ers. Veritable engineers of the ecosystem, termites have had to adapt themselves to periods of food shortage. The fungus-grower termites, to ensure their own sur-vival, took to cultivating fungi in haystacks, real miniature gardens. Furthermore, these fungi present another inter-est for the termites: they break down the food and facili-tate digestion.

TERMITE DOCTORS

In the Central African Republic, Bernard N'Donazi is a specialist in the therapeutic use of termites. Because in many villages where modern medicine is inexistent, Dr N’Donazi’s methods represent a real solution. In the Soumas tribe, ulcers have been treated for generations with a powder of Macrotermes soldier termites. The technique was abandoned, but Dr N’Donazi would like to promote it again. Especially since many people do not have the means to pay for antibiotics… Bernard N'Donazi travels throughout Central Africa to meet the different population groups and promote his methods. But how do the termites heal? The healing action of sol-dier termites is probably due to their glandular secretions and the chitin contained in their armoured heads. Chitin has in fact antibacterial properties, which moreover is non-toxic and biodegradable.

In the Ivory Coast, traditional healers also call upon ter-mites. They use the soil of termite nests to make ortho-paedic casts. It would appear that termite soil can even heal mumps and chicken pox…

TERMITE GOLD SEEKERS

Termites can even help us get rich! Yet another new pro-fession for termites: gold seekers. A Canadian geologist, Marc-André Bernier, of the company Asquith Resources Inc., uses termites as auxiliary prospectors. In building their nests, termites bring up to the surface minerals and precious metals, notably gold particles of a size varying from 30 microns to 3 mm, from a depth of over twenty metres. So the termites replace drills and thus enable a rapid and cheaper diagnosis of auriferous zones.