Modern Mysteries

Are termites responsible for 'fairy circles'?

By T.K. Randall
September 9, 2016 ·  9 comments

Are these the remains of termite colonies ? Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.5 Stephan Getzin Earlier this year the phenomenon, which was previously thought to be exclusive to the deserts of Namibia, was discovered for the first time in Australia as well, leading to the theory that the circles are formed by plants 'organizing' themselves to maximize their access to water and nutrients.

Now however, a separate group of researchers has put the dampener on this idea by instead suggesting that they are likely to be a remnant of termite nests - a theory that was previously dismissed because no correlation between the two could be found.Ecologist Fiona Walsh and her colleagues maintain that the termite idea does have merit as the indigenous people of Australia have long attributed the circles to the insects. Remnants of old termite colonies have also been found beneath some of the circles when they've been dug up.

"This new Australian data suggests that a termite hypothesis for African circles... should be revisited, despite being rejected by the Getzin team," Walsh said in a statement.

Whether termites can account for all the circles found to date however remains to be seen.

Source: Live Science | Comments (9)

Tags: Fairy Circles