 "Termites carry out suicide bomb attacks too!")
Apparently using explosives during warfare is not an entirely human trait. New research has found that termites also have the ability to explode themselves in defence of their nests. And its all biological warfare!
According to an article in Science Now :
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The termites explode in order to defend their nests: Reuters[/caption]
When trekking through a forest in French Guiana to study termites, a group of biologists noticed unique spots of blue on the backs of the insects in one nest. Curious, one scientist reached down to pick up one of these termites with a pair of forceps. It exploded. The blue spots, the team discovered, contain explosive crystals, and they’re found only on the backs of the oldest termites in the colony. The aged termites carry out suicide missions on behalf of their nest mates.
The abstract of the paper which is also available on the site says_, “workers of the termite Neocapritermes taracua develop an exceptional two-component suicidal apparatus consisting of copper-containing protein crystals, stored in external pouches, and internal salivary glands. During aggressive encounters, their bodies rupture, and the crystals react with the salivary gland secretion to produce a toxic droplet. Both the amount of defensive substances and the readiness to explode increase with workers’ age, as their food-collecting ability declines_.”
One question that remains is exactly how aging triggers the accumulation of the blue crystals.