Termites - Life's Ultimate Architects

[iProjectify]

Some video says the queen termite lays 1k eggs a day but some video says 30k eggs a day some say 5k eggs a day so.. which is the correct one

[Biankito]

Imagine if ants and termites were the size of humans, our species would have died long ago.

[jigglyfidda125]

9 zionists watched this

[sauvang93]

The termite queen inspired ppl to create the infamous alien queen!!!

[guymysterio177]

@sauvang93 looks that way and gest like the ailen these thing are smart as hell thay work hard especily the queen she did a good job if the house was big enagh for me i wound be there room mate

[finalcloud13]

0:22

David Attenborough: But what could be in these towers? They sound *thump thump* hollow. Well, there's an easy way to find out.

*CRRRAAAACKKKK*

BREAK THAT SHIT OPEN THAT'S HOW.

David Attenborough. Like a boss.

[jusesisalive]

that's one big mama

[MrAngryGorilla2000]

The queen is fucking ugly!!

[PuuberZ]

Anyone interested in Termites should read(or get the audiobooks) Arthur C Clarkes short stories "retreat from earth" and "the next tennants".

[dembumboclot]

This is so sick!!!

[richardhaw]

that is Sir Davir for you...

[robto333]

Yea, this is were james cameron got his queen from. TERMITES ARE AWESOME!

[raintrainer]

Staggering achievement from tiny insects. How I's that Knowledge given to them, near perfect.....

[Keelle09]

i was brave enogh, i would put a nail into that queen

[MaitreTsu]

Hmph, if only we could use those humans that are un-employed, lazy, non-knowledgeable and have no use in society and make them do what the termites here have done. Actually live in peace and grow as a species all in one. Not divided and influenced by ignorant ideas of war, hatred, crime, false-justice, etc. Maybe someday humans will be rid of those people and be like the termite :) ... hopefully :\ ... sorry i got a bit carried away ;P

[kaldzija]

very nice



[ANGELliveify]

Wow, this is a good video to watch when your high! (:

[TheRedWang]

David Attenborough is the greatest documentary presenter of all time. I admire his work and dedication. Thank you David and the BBC you have taught me everything I know about the animal kingdom and our planet! <3

[superkulkin2]

Hij@s mí@s, un@s tienen el gusto en la boca y otr@s en el culo. Mala follá: el que va a buscar miel y se lleva a casa un nido de avispas.

[lonesoldier33]

They're pretty shy of light, from what I understand. They seem to be located away from any kind of significant light source

[caluuseMT]

I do not believe in God, but I can see now why some do.

[Murdercide626]

Termites are such awesome creatures! =D

[fallingwatersnz]

how the hell did he get down there? must of been so clostraphobic.

[neutralguy1]

@fallingwatersnz lol

[AgentCROCODILE]

Blade Runner Termite Edition Settings!

[TheTerminator248]

the queen must hate her life

[KinetiK138]

Who is the presenter anyway?

[hudson]

@KinetiK138 David Attenborough from the BBC

[x3Noobx3]

@hudson Love that guy!

[hatemf23]

@hudson whats the full name of this documentary?

[EPICT0ASTER]

@hudson That's SIR David Attenborough to you :-P

[boon933]

@hudson No homo but, i love him

[TheHordeOfTheLiams]

its great to see such comprahensive footage, my mm is a teacher and she uses this video for her class, nice post hudson!

[hudson]

@TheHordeOfTheLiams Yay! that's great to hear. Thank David Attenborough and the BBC too, they made this amazing video in the first place. I love them. =)

[topbluffa1]

check out life in the undergrowth a newer documentary series made by the bbc with David attenborough .

[jeetendrag10acc2]

radiator plates!!! they build radiator plates!!

[Mendelevium146]

@jeetendrag10acc2 I know, they built a freaking heat sink. It's so impressive when evolution produces this kind of complex stuctures

[PaINtBalLIiNG]

Woah! the host totally manhandled the cone thing! >:o

[RespectMyHate]

They put humans to shame. SAD.

[deBadWolff]

thank you for sharing.  my children were absolutely fascinated :)

[TheFucker55]

i wish youve been bitten by a soldier termite!!!!!!!!!!

[mariox402]

I wonder what would happen if an ant colony just decides to move next to these guys.

[mostliberal]

@mariox402 Actually, ants and termites fight full scale wars in South America. Watch BBC's Planet Earth.

[RespectMyHate]

@mostliberal which one wins?

[mostliberal]

@RespectMyHate I think the ants win. They're persistent, and they're the ones on the offense. I don't think the termites ever actually attack.

[Ruiner1001]

I sure hope termites or ants don't mutate to human size or we would all be screwed lol

[msrienne3d]

@Ruiner1001 lol

[fktheworld1]

who is bangin the queen to make so many bugs like that?

[Procyon50]

@fktheworld1 The king. duh

[0darkG]

screw ant farms, i'm getting termite farms

[Iwiehavo]

Damn I need a termite to make a heatsink for my pc.

[predatora]

Absolutely amazing insects! I can't calculate completely how they are building that buildings.

[31rS3RP3N7]

amazing creatures.

[tall32guy]

Very interesting! Bugs and so many things in nature are set just perfectly, each having their own purpose. Very cool indeed! :)

[JerhasMiNiBUNZ]

WTF? This fool is in the ground!? lol

[marcolotr]

hahaha LOL, he just pops out of a hole, and starts talking! lol

[Cheesepickles22]

SHIIIIIIT

[12ock]

i dont know.... about much of evolution..... but among the insect kingdom antz, bees wasp and termites.... are what i could say theyre amazing to perfectize it eons and eons of practice buildship of colonizess... how about us?

[Zemery1]

we are just cheap bastards xD

[Ridderheim7]

Of course he isn't crawling around inside a real termite nest. It's human built structure just for the fotage. The same goes for filming the queen. Do you really think they searched all the tunnels with a mini-camera to find her? It's a huge terrarium.

[hudson]

you post like you are some kind of authority on the subject when you have no idea what you're talking about. typical troll.

[BehrGoneWild]

You are right. I used to work for National Geographic and though this was not NG - they did crawl into some termite houses - often had to wreck a portion to get into them - oh from what I hear - a small man can get into them and Richard shown here in the video isn't a big man - shows what the troll knows lol

[TheRedWang]

@hudson I think Ridderheim7 does speak a bit of truth. The cameramen can't go through the all tunnels with a microtube camera searching for the queen as this would demage the tunnels and disrupt the environment of the termites. In animal documentaries there are some scenes that are simply impossible to shoot in the real environment that need to be set up / staged in order to get the right shot.

[TheRedWang]

@hudson @ Ridderheim7 Having said that, this is a fairly old documentary probably made in the early 90's (as David appears about middle age) and I would bet that David is inside the termite mount for the underground vein shot, but the queen shots are definitely in a terrarium.

[inivonwini]

@Ridderheim7 The footage was shot in New Jersey. The queen was played by Rosie O'Donnell.

[BrunolRamos]

What is the name of this documentary?

[beeftoons]

it's a trap!

[S1587915G]

Now I know David Attenborough is a voyeur. He sneaks inside a termite's castle to take a peek at what they're doing.

[boundtogetdown]

im sure humans could make one if we really wanted to

[MrGibert0]

Truely amazing!

[Blooberry95]

the queen is FAT!

[MSLuver09]

how does the camara get inside there?

[crimzonesuicide]

Fill it up with gas, light it up and watch it go BOOM! (Maybe)

[MetallF]

collective intelligence... hmmm

[zeebra901]

u know the termites used saliva to build that fucking mound ick

[ATLB505]

fill the hole with toxic gas!!

[bigpapasan1969]

There are over 3000 termite speicies around the world. The colony was not in danger of being destroyed by removing the top of the stack. Termites have been around for millions of years and they're not going anywhere anytime soon. So for all of you who are worried about damaging one termite colony, lighten up. When termites swarm, most of them end up dying (over 90%) before starting a new colony. Cool footage of the queen! And yes, that's what she really looks like... Just like on 'Aliens'.

[hudson]

nice comment - thanks for contributing something substantive to the conversation!

[HARKENSCYLD]

Nope, they eat the mould that grows on their shit.

So it's all okay. lol.

[brennig2]

Imagine what we could achieve if we all worked together? Pretty big!

[pokmnbvcxza]

this dude is crazy!!!

[Dafidd]

woha! imagine bear gyles from man vs wild eating that!

[mynameisfez1]

Wtf is it with youtube comments on animal videos? He put the damn thing back together. Unbunch your panties and chill.

[blackgold161]

the queen will most likely die if ants came in and attacked

[DiscoSamurai7]

Ants don't usually kill the queen.

They leave her and a few workers and such, so next time they come they can kill them all again!

[Makakios]

Yeah ants are bloodthirsty and hunger for battle!

[DiscoSamurai7]

@Makakios

Vikings of the insect world, kinda.

[tall32guy]

yeah. Poor queen, she is trapped and only there just to make more workers and keep everything going. What a life! LOL

[quickgonzalez89]

"But what could be in these towers?"

yeah, lets rip them apart and see

[lastBornHobo]

Only one thing to do then folks... Pull together!

[articbound34]

imagine squishing the queen

[blackgold161]

that would be sick man

[MrButters09]

How would David Attenborough like some gaint person come to his home and rip off one section of his building!! that sucks

[olstar18]

He is doing this to help people understand a piece of the complexity that surrounds us. Besides taking off that small piece would have hardly affected the colony and they could put it back easily enough.

[MrButters09]

There are now better ways of showing the inside, its call small probe camera's I am sure the BBC would know about this "INNVENTION"

For some one who is "SUPPOSE" to love nature and the way he just ripped open without care just seems strange

[olstar18]

Or they could do exactly what they did and put the top back on it afterwards.

[HDSHIG]

Fucking Genius!!!!

[Insexct]

--God bless Sir David Attenborough--

[hudson]

amen to that!

[Galaxnite]

y can't we build architecture of that size...look at the termites!

[ninja1dalbem]

probably because of the relative size to the Earth - with a proporcional building size, the wind and etc. would be quite different from here.

[tronulu]

2:44 - 2:46 why does the queen have eyes??

[Insexct]

they fly when they're young

[Audovauld]

I like how they tear it open so he can crawl inside to film the water cooling scene.

[TheRsMuffin]

ROFL ive been watching a lot of termite videos (dont ask why) but its about an attack on this guys house and they are poking them with knives and the guy goes wow hes attacking ur knife.. hes risking his life!! and the other guy goes, yeah, well thats what hes been training his whole life for

[gyorihuni]

Yeah , you're right!

But what termites eat? Just wood?

[mcquaidster]

dead wood, so they are a 'green' insect too!

[gyorihuni]

I think ants are cooler! But i respect termites too!

[Feanic]

i wonder how the dudes gets in the airco cellar

[Bioloser]

2:38 is that the "king"? o_O

The second biggest one besides the queen.

Too long for a soldier :c

[statix888]

that's a big ass air-conditioner...

[zainul54]

It is a very interesting and educational video on termite mound.But I wonder how he returned unharmed by the aggressive termite soldiers.

[xDestroyingAngelx]

just wondering

if their are ant farms

could it be possible to have a termite farms

that would be cool1

[earl6282]

That guy must be batshit insane. You couldn't get me to crawl 6 feet underground into a termite colony if you paid me.

[Tickets825164]

Termites are pretty smart

[aangels92]

My Boyfriend house this week. was full of Termites. Expically in the basement. He cound't sleep in his room. He had to sleep on the floor in his parents room and in the den. People are comign next week to put chemicals in the ground to keep them away. They get them every year. But this year it's more active :(:(

[linkshandig1]

ho cares?

[bluemoonhaunts]

omg on of the babies was being squashed by the mother

[Bestow3000]

Ahh I remember my friend show me his picture about him standing beside an extremly huge termite mound that is about 26 meters long!!!But since my friends couson is soo stuborn till he brpck down everything and cause all the termites to scatter everywhere.

[IAM66REAPER12]

i wonder what humanity could accomplish if we learned to work together HALF as good as termites

also, i love watching this nature docs, they get such amazing shots!

[killerbee2k]

I miss the day they showed quality docs like this on animal planet and national geographic, now its all just reality trash tv trying to be extreme *Sight*

[zenithar6666]

true that

[kitsurubami19]

does the ant queen have the same purpose?

[Iceblazer08]

pretty much, but she doesnt inflate like a balloon

[kitsurubami19]

what abot the queen naked  mole rat?

[Iceblazer08]

WHat do you mean a naked mole rat? I would assume any queen would have the same purpose of at least being the leader of the group. A naked mole rat queen probably doesnt serve as the baby maker though.

[Thenas88]

Acually she does, but she doesn't grow in width but rather hight so that she can still move around in the tunnels.

She do not carry that insane amount of babies around, think it was 12 or something if I recall correctly. ^_^

[judyfoo]

the queen is way too huge to squeeze she needs to wait until her eggs were hatched and nice video thanks for making this really helps my school work. =)

[Magi604]

The ant colony was better.

[fabio1456]

everyone beware. they are coming!!!! day by day us humans go about our daily lives with a complete oblivious nature thinking that we are the true masters of this planet, but we are wrong! they are growing! building! and becoming more and more powerful with each passing moment. there will come a day when they......... THE TERMITES will rise up and with they're biological weapons and thick armor take back the world!!!!!! they are coming.... be afraid be very afraid!!!!

[hudson]

hahaha

[fraz300]

looooooooooool

[954754]

o i am :(

[njasa4]

how did they get cameras in there so nicely

[NzNexus]

the queen looks like something evil from starship trooperz

[HiroHuahine]

It's the other way... aliens from starship troopers are designed after insects like this termite queen...

[JamesTBond007]

well they did call them "Bugs" in the book :P

[JohnnyFuzz13]

what really amazed me is that how did they manage to take videos like this O_O its really amazing...

[moneth121790]

i wont go inside the termite colony just like this man.........ahem..

[WoWmaster101]

queen trmite is a real HO

[Yarnuu]

This is very interesting! Thanks for the upload ;)

[teabrewer]

While it is pretty amazing, the reason we haven't built anything a mile high is because there are no materials available that are really capable of building such a structure. they already have a natural building material suited for something of that magnitude so it's really not that fair lol...

[weimdaddy80]

danielnelsonstinks is correct, its our opposable thumbs and ability to speak coupled with our intelligence that set us apart.

[kalag25]

very informative!

[TenorSaxDogVideos]

@TolaMacarino :

If we're the most advanced in every way, why can't every single human work together like some species of ants? Why cant humans run 70mph like a cheetah? Why can't we as good of natural climbers like the ox? As stealthy as a cat? As strong a swimmer as almost any fish? Or have the best NATURAL defenses as almost every animal known to man. We only have ONE of the most well developed brain. We just have the capability to use it in the way we do.

[07churchwardr]

y is every1s comment so big

[hudson]

its often necessary to use more than 6 words when trying to express complex concepts. unless you're firin off some zen koans or somethin.

[notabernard]

Audio preview was introduced to try and filter out moronic comments like yours.

[pinkfloyddwc]

amazing vid...

[gundude1]

termites and ants are both amazing species

[Velitoptorix]

Are you suggesting that cut and run in the WAR ON TERMITES?

[nykspree8]

rofl he was inside the nest, it'd be funny if they got pissed and all swarmed up and attacked him.

[crappieya]

there like ants but smarter

[patrikasLTL]

still.. ants dominate.

[crappieya]

i know they do patrikas lol ants rule

[CrazyTorqueAgito]

HUMANS should stop flattering themselves.

It's fucking disgusting.

They were here first, and to think we are at the top of the food chain? Ha!

That's my bit.

[patrikasLTL]

agreed, but i'd rather 'ENHIGHT'the other +-4.5 million undiscovered species.

after all, nature can exist without man, but man without nature- not.

[Dannynelsonstinks]

What the hell? That's like saying the basic laws of the universe will exist without colors or shapes. It's stating the obvious.

Nature is nature without animals in general, it is just nature, it has laws. We are taking advantage of our level of development.

Nature can exist without us, these termites (that's a given), ants, bees, dragonflies, dung beetles, cows, camels, horses, deer, fish - you name it.

Nothing can exist without nature, you idiot.

[patrikasLTL]

all you that you said was true. but what are you talking about... i meant that ants dominate OVER THERMITES

DOOYYYYHH-HH!!

[TolaMacarino]

You're a human. What is wrong with you?

We are the most advanced in every way. It's disgusting how you're going against your own species.

We are so highly evolved, that once humans, we began to build civilization. Blaming humans for being the top would be like blaming termites for building their homes. It is inevitable that we are the best.

We have reason, the highest intelligence, and opposable thumbs.

We ARE the top of the food chain. We can kill and eat anything we'd like.

[TemplarX2]

Hmmm...we're not the most evolved; we simply have the most complex brain brain. Other animals are evolved but in different ways. Of course, if you evolved to become the most intelligent you become the most dominant. However, some in another evolutionary scenario, an species, say like the ones in the movie alien, can become most dominant without being intelligent.

[TolaMacarino]

"Alien" is a fictional movie.

[Dannynelsonstinks]

I believe you're misquoting him. We are so HIGHLY evolved - not the most. But it is not only our "complex brain brain" that makes us so advanced - it is the fact that we have opposable thumbs in combination with our advanced brain structure. This fact is often overlooked. With opposable thumbs we can manipulate many things. If we had no thumbs, we would have extreme difficulty building, holding things, lifting, writing, and doing most anything.

We also have civilization.

[Dannynelsonstinks]

Nature flatters us by giving us the highest brain capacity and hands which can grab and manipulate and build and shoot and stab and lift and all sorts of things which allow only us to progress while other species remain without our advancements.

Archaebacteria were here first, not termites. Why don't they receive all of the credit? Humans live as humans should. Why do insects deserve any more credit than us? For doing what nature evolved them to do? You're not very bright.

[Velocity329]

I would just blow it up nd run like hell.

[gavindaysaccount]

Watching this stuff makes me itch

[danwhelanau]

im not saying go around killing them all off that would be stupid but im saying they need to be controlled and respected in the fact that they can be detrimental to the enviroment and not just little wonderful creatures that bounce around in there green filled hippy coloured even plants have a soul type non reality type hippy world. u can respect nature and all its life forms and be smart about it too. murderers and rapists are living forms do u respect them to just becuase there living forms?

[notabernard]

Yes, actually.

[danwhelanau]

e: piont is hudson we need trees to breathe "if" termites become out of control i know its far of but if they become to the stage there destroying all trees, there will be nothing to filter what we breathe out. yes its amazing how these insects work and its amazing footage and blah blah blah but termites are a pest fullstop no matter which kind or where there from it doesnt matter the do more damage to the enviroment that good dont they?

[bigpapasan1969]

Actually, termites eat mostly dead wood, while very few species attack live wood. If we didn't have termites we'd have forests piled high with dead trees. Termites actually help to break down dead wood much more quickly than moisture and fungus by themselves. Termites DO produce methane though... That's not very 'green' of them...

[danwhelanau]

its funny those who are disagreeing with the burn, gas or kill the termites posts. these people are either

a: 6 year olds with no brians who think termites are cute.

b: people who have no idea what these little sh!ts do to peoples homes or anything made of wood.

or

c: just complete morons who dont know and dont care and will still think there harmless cute insects.

[hudson]

or

d. perhaps simply those who appreciate life in all its forms

these particular termites live in an area of the world (african savanna) where nobody bothers to make their homes out of wood. so they do not represent any threat to the livelihood of humans revealing that the burn sentiment is motivated simply by blind hate and ignorance, decidedly common human neuroses that the lowly termites admirably lack.

[Redlightning7]

Im gonna have to go with d.

^^

[goldenscrool]

I want to poor some gas in there ,set it on fire and watch the flanes coming out of the chemney.

[Mulletosh]

look closetly the queen crushes the termites with her body :D

[JingleJoe]

I saw that too XD but I think they were okay ^^;

[rpblcan]

pour some gas around it and light it