“To make sure that the walls of our
tunnels are strong, we cover them with
a sticky mixture of spit (saliva) and
soil,” says Naserian.
“When the sticky mixture dries, it
becomes hard like clay. Termite nests
can last a very long time,” adds Naeku.

“We carry out the soil that we dig and
use it to build a mound above the
ground. The mound is usually round or
a cone shape, with many tunnels,”
says Naserian.
“Some termite mounds are as high as
nine meters!” says Naeku.

Termites are social insects living in a
large group. They have different roles
for creating and maintaining the
colony.
Worker termites like Naserian and
Naeku dig and build the nest. Soldier
termites guard the nest. Both workers
and soldiers go out to find new places
to build nests.

Nurse termites look after the queen
and baby termites called larvae.
The nest has different areas. There are
rooms for the queen, rooms for the
larvae, and rooms for storing food.
Tunnels link the different areas.
The queen is the biggest termite and
can live the longest.