Here, in South Africa, it can also get very hot but its no dangerous flooding.

So, termites can get refuge from the heat below ground where its cool and relatively stable. But two billion insects living below ground create a different kind of problem: the air around them get stale. So termites need to have a way of linking the underground air with the fresh air above, the ventilation system; and they do that with this. To see how it works, youve got to look inside. Using the latest scanning technique, we can create a picture of the mount interior. An intricate network of passages lead to a central chimney. Hot, stale air from the insect population below rises up through the chimney. But the top of the mount is sealed. So, how does the stale air escape. The mount may look as though it has strong defensive wall like a fortress, but in fact, these walls are porous and their primary purpose is to harness the wind. Fresh air blowing against the side of the mount is forced through a tiny hole in these walls. From there, it travels through a smaller tunnel until it reaches the central chimney. Here, the cooler fresh air mixed with the stale air rising from the insect community below. Meanwhile, some air is blown around the side of the mount. This creates a suction that pulls the stale air. An Internal air current is created and the whole mount ventilated. The mount inhabitants spend most of their time close to or below ground level. Beneath their living quarters, there are chambers where the termites cultivate the fungus that rocks.. Farther down still, the queen lies in her chamber. A huge body is a gigantic egg producing factory. Shes so swollen that she cant look after herself. The workers must constantly clean her and feed her with their own crops. Her partner, with whom she founded the colony maybe twenty years ago, is still with her and mates

with her throughout her life. She lays eggs at an extraordinary rate: as many as thirty thousand a day. As she produces them, the workers remove them from the chamber and take them to nurseries. There, theyll be fed on compos from the fungus gardens until they turn into adults. The super organism that lives in the great castle. Crops are surrounding the vegetation, just about severely as an antelope. The density of individual termite around here is extraordinary: over 100.000 per square meter. And just as there are lions and leopard that hunts antelopes, so, in the underground, there are insect hunters which prey on the tiny herbivores: the ant, the termite ancient enemy. The mount has formidable guards: soldier termites. The ants have special techniques to deal with these soldiers. They grab the termites jaws and then sting it on its most vulnerable place on its head: in its mouth. The ant frontlines break into the colony. Reinforcement of the termite soldiers arrive quickly. Already, there are casualties on both sides. But the invaders overwhelm the defenders.

The rage last less than 15 minutes. Nonetheless, the spoils are impressive. Termite bodies are now being piled in dumps outside the nest. Many of the casualties are still alive but paralyzed by the ants stings. Now, the radar has considerable tasks of carrying their victims back to their nest.