Termite

insects · teamwork · builders

Recycling champions. Termites eat decaying plants like wood, fallen leaves, and rich soil, helping clean up nature's leftovers.

Not really ants. Even though they're called 'white ants,' termites are actually highly evolved cockroaches, closer to certain cockroaches than to true ants!

Super social. Termites are eusocial, meaning they live in big colonies where different members have special jobs, like workers and soldiers.

Beaded antennae. You can spot termites by their bead-like (moniliform) antennae and their soft, pale worker bodies.

Thousands of kinds. Scientists have described about 2,997 living termite species, and most of them belong to one big family called Termitidae.