Termite Mounds

As we drove north, we entered termite territory. There are millions of termite mounds between here the top end and there were times when it seems that if pulled over, we'd be able to reach out and touch them all.

An interesting Northern Territorial habit is the dressing of the termite mounds along the side of the road. I think I only took this one photo of such a thing, but there were hundreds of them along our route.



We found an area where a bushfire cleared away the undergrowth and we could see the the mounds and stopped for a couple photos.

Now, you are thinking to yourselves, "Self, how can there be so many trees here if there are so many, many termites?" We wondered this as well and when we got to Darwin, we learned the answer. Of the 30 or so varieties of termites in the Northern Territory, only 5 are wood eaters. The bulk of the them, including these found here, eat grass.

That's right. In a land filled with grass but lacking native grazing animals, the solution is termites to keep the grass under control. Ain't that strange? Welcome to Australia.

These are small termite mounds. Wait a few days and I'll show you what serious termite mounds look like.