34,000-Year-Old Active Termite Mounds Discovered

Cape Town: Scientists in South Africa have discovered termite mounds that still contain live termites. These mounds are more than 30,000 years old, making them the oldest known active termite mounds to date.

Some barrows near the Buffels River in South Africa’s Namakwa township have been found to be 34,000 years old, according to researchers at Stellenbosch University.

Michelle Francis, research leader and lecturer, said the researchers knew these mounds were old, but they didn’t know they were that old. Michelle mentioned that these mounds existed at a time when saber-toothed cats and mammoths roamed other parts of the Earth and large parts of Europe and Asia were covered in ice.

In the past, some remains of termite mounds have been discovered that are millions of years old. However, before these mounds were discovered in South Africa, the oldest known active mounds were found in Brazil, which are approximately 4,000 years old and can be seen from space.