Termites and emmet have been at war for millions of years . The contest does n’t seem a sightly one , however , since not only are many ant mintage much big than their opponents , but termites are blind , or nearly so , and equipped with less powerful jaw and feeble chemical defenses . Now , it has been discovered that termites make up for this with their sensitiveness to ants ' footstep .
Many specie of ants , on becoming aware of neighboring white ant , will launch full - scale attacks , wiping out entire colonies . Yet the two species are often notice within a few body lengths of each other .
Dr Sebastian Oberst , then at the University of New South Wales , explored this paradox and observe white ant step exquisitely , give rise as piddling as a hundredth of the floor - shaking vibrations of an pismire of the same sizing . Most ants , relying on sight and smell , are not all that sensible to go and likely would n’t hear the white ant if they were wearing hobnail boots . Meanwhile , because they ’re not confused by their own specie ' silent footfall , termites have the opportunity to pick up the dissonance of those who present a scourge .
by nature , entomologist are fascinated by this behavior , but there are practical reasons to enquire it as well . For one affair , termite control is expensive . After discovering termites were using sound to stave off their enemies , scientists proposed using lilliputian speakers to recreate the noises these woods - eating insects fear as a style to keep them off from timber construction . However , Oberst told IFLScience this has not worked so far . “ No one knows the acoustical signature the termites stave off , ” Oberst say .
This may be about to exchange however . As report inEcology Letters , Oberst retrace an exceptionally sensitive system to allow him to record the footsteps of insects that weigh a few milligrams . “ I had to infix an anechoic room which occupy all healthy reflections and that was decoupled from the building , but still we picked up vibrations from people in the edifice , ” Oberst said in astatement . “ We had to decouple the equipment within the room . The vibration of some termite species are so diminutive that you would n’t feel them walking on your skin . ” He stay uncertain how termites actually do this .
Any evolutionary development eventually attracts a counter , and Oberst found that thegreen - headed pismire , which feeds on termite , has learned to take the air quietly and transport a big jaw so it can hitch its prey unawares . Six other ant species he try out , however , have stamp on regardless , allowing termites to maintain their perilous place in the ecosystem .
In accession to the potentiality for termite ascendance , Oberst go for that if he can work out how termites move so quiet , it will be of interest to robotics engineers .
Green - channelise emmet are the one species hump to have work out how to walk as quietly as termites . Steroid Maximus - CC BY - SA 3.0 via wikimedia commons .
