Termites live in large colonies. Each nest has a single king and queen. They are served by blind workers and soldiers, who feed and protect the colony. Termites live in hot climates. They eat wood and other dead plant material. For their nests, some termites build towering earth mounds several metres high. Inside are chambers used for growing fungus. The fungus, which helps most kinds of termite digest their food, grows well in the moist air inside the mound. There termites even build chimneys to let the heat escape.

Soldiers

Soldier termites are reared to protect the colony. They are bigger than workers and equipped with powerful biting jaws. Some kinds can squirt poison at their attackers. Soldiers rely on workers to feed them.

The king termite is larger than the workers, but he is dwarfed by the queen. She has a massive swollen abdomen up to 14 centimetres (more than 5 inches) long. In the royal chamber inside the nest, she produces up to 30,000 eggs a day. As she lays them, the workers carry them away to other chambers, called nurseries, where they hatch out into workers.