nature animals · Ages 6-8

The Termite Mound That Breathes Like a Building

Termites build mound tunnels that move air and help keep the nest at a livable temperature for the colony.

The whole story

1. At sunrise, Tavi pressed one antenna to the clay wall of the termite mound. Warm clay touched one side of her face, while a cool puff touched the other.

2. By noon, the outside clay was hot enough to make Tavi lift her feet. Yet the rooms below stayed gentle and cool. Tavi wanted to know how.

3. She searched the walls. No fan turned. No window opened. Then fine dust leaned inward beside a tiny lower vent.

4. Tavi entered the lower vent and found a branching tunnel. One passage climbed toward the sun-warmed top. Another curled down toward the cool rooms.

5. At the fork, Tavi set down a dry seed husk. It tipped toward the warm branch, while a faint dust trail curved into the cool branch.

6. At the next fork, the tunnels twisted like roots, but they were not tangled. Their careful pattern gave warm air a way up and cool air a way through.

7. At the bottom, Tavi reached a quiet chamber. The air was neither hot nor chilly. It was just right, and her antennae relaxed.

8. Tavi returned to the entrance and touched the clay with her front feet. The mound was not a pile of dirt after all. It was a building designed to breathe.

9. Termites build mound tunnels that move air and help keep the nest at a livable temperature for the colony.

Make a story like this →