Moles live in long, underground tunnels that they spend all day digging. The burrow has a complex structure with resting places and a nursery for their young. They are solitary animals and when two moles bump into each other while digging, there will be a quick skirmish before they go their own way, each into their respective tunnels.
Moles do not hibernate in the winter and are active all year round. Their offspring are born in spring, usually three or four babies who stay in the nest with their mum for about a month. After this, they begin to dig their own tunnels and slowly venture further away from the nesting chamber.
CITY-TOWER
Like ants, termites are social insects who live together in colonies, sharing a single nest, originally called a termitarium in Latin, which is like a large city for them. The nests of some tropical species are moundshaped towers that are up to 16 feet (5 m) high and 12 in (30 cm) wide.
The mounds are made of a mixture of earth, animal droppings and saliva which solidifies in the sun to become very hard and durable. The outside of the termite nest is dotted, at the bottom, with hundreds of tiny pores which let air in. This air can then flow along the miniscule tunnels to reach the central chimney from where it is circulated throughout the rest of nest.
The natural ventilation created assures the colony an oxygen supply and keeps the temperature inside the nest constant, regardless of the outside temperature.
The position of the tower is not a chance occurrence–it is always north-facing, precisely because this helps to keep it cooler inside.
A queen can lay thousands of eggs a day and can live for up to 45 years. Over time, her abdomen grows inordinately large, to the point at which it inhibits her movement.
THE ROLES OF TERMITES
Worker Soldier Winged King Queen
Despite the height of their mound, termites spend most of their time in the subterranean part of their nest.
A dense network of tunnels connects multiple chambers, each of which has a specific role to perform.
Some are used to store wood, the termites’ main source of food, others are used to farm mushrooms which the termites feed on, and others still function as nurseries in which the eggs are watched over and the larvae reared; there is also a royal chamber housing the queen and king, the only fertile members of the colony.
There are several openings at the bottom of the mound. The termites use them to go in and out of their nest when it’s cool at night, when they also go foraging for food.
