TIL that 30 million years ago a species of mound-building termites evolved with next-level techniques that we humans could learn from in order to deal with our environmental challenges. These are the Macrotermes, and what makes them particularly special is the very ancient relationship they co-created with the fungus Termitomyces.
Neither survives without the other: the Macrotermes termites rely on the Termitomyces for food, shelter, and climate control — the termites chew up wood and bring it back to feed the fungi, which decompose the otherwise inaccessible lingnins that give wood its stable structure. The bugs actually harvest the Termitomyces, depositing it in “fungus combs” of their mounds, and feeding it the wood slurry. In turn, the decomposed wood becomes the termites’ food.
Merlin Sheldrake, among others, has described the Macrotermes mounds (which can grow up to 9 meters and age as living structures for thousands of years) as “externalized guts,” because of their role in digesting food that the Macrotermes cannot physically do otherwise. The fungi in the mounds also helps to distribute water and regulate the temperature of the termite mounds, enabling them to exist in relatively arid conditions.
And the mushrooms these mounds create are enormous: you can see a picture of a “Termitomyces titanicus” in the second picture. The Termitomyces has been used as food and medicine in parts of Africa for millennia.
