Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/01/the-bizarre-death-rituals-of-termites-and-their-queens.html
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Not going to watch it
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They inspired the “Alien queen” of the Alien series, can they be all bad?
(“put all your eggs into one egg laying factory and…”)
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Is the way the narrator pronounces “inundated” a sign of AI or is that how it’s said abroad (or just properly)?
In some ways, yes. On the other hand, the way the Xenomorphs lay their eggs inside living prey and burst out of them seems more inspired by parasitoid wasps, whose very existence freaked Charles Darwin out as an example of a creature that makes sense from the perspective of natural selection but not as a creation of a benevolent deity: “I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.”
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At the end of her life, though, they all become cannibals and devour her body.
Thanks for the warning.
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Well, that’s Royalty for you.
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That caught my ear, too. That’s not how I’ve ever said it or ever heard anyone else say it.
OTOH, I’ve taken online defensive driving, & been in meetings where someone read from the PowerPoint, where they clearly aren’t paying attention to the words they’re reading and the verbiage just tumbles out. Kind of like, well, an AI? 
“The Aristocrats!”
(Actually, that works on multiple levels…)
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Termites, aka social cockroaches, are an absolute marvel. Especially those of the genus Macrotermes, which seem to be depicted here judging from the video still.
I worked with colleagues who made measurements in their mounds. While outside temperature range had a delta of more than 40°C, inside delta was three degrees. Relative humidity was nearly constant at 98%, with a delta of less than one percent.
If you ever watched Metropolis, and also visited the Sagrada Família - mix that in your minde, and that’s about what it feels if you excavate a mound of Macrotermes bellicosus. And at the heart, you’ll find the Queen, mom to them all… and her tiny king.
It’s honestly fascinating.
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For extra creepy, there are hyperparasites. Wasps that are parasites on wasps that are parasites on wasps that are parasites on other things.
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I guess it would be more surprising if they didn’t eat her body. They aren’t exactly sentimental organisms and her corpse wouldn’t fit out the door even if they wanted to dispose of it.
A termite colony can be thought of as a single super-organism with each termite playing a specialized role, just as the cells and organs in our bodies do. The queen isn’t a ruler or an object of reverence as much as a big ol’ ovary.
When some cell in your body dies it isn’t mourned by its brethren, it is broken down and reabsorbed.
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Since I live in what’s currently part of the UK, I feel I have no place to criticise when it comes to bizarre and elaborate rituals following the death of a queen.
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