Termite mounds covering area size of Britain found in Brazil | ITV News

A huge complex of around 200 million termite mounds has been discovered to cover an area the size of Great Britain in a remote area in northeastern Brazil.

The mounds, some of which are up to 13ft (four metres) tall, are up to 4,000 years old, and while they are visible on Google Earth, they are largely hidden from view at ground level as they cover an area which is largely semiarid, thorny-scrub forests.

"These mounds were formed by a single termite species that excavated a massive network of tunnels to allow them to access dead leaves to eat safely and directly from the forest floor," researcher and entomologist Professor Stephen Martin from the University of Salford said.



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