Las termitas Un da bamos por un camino campestre de Nayarit, Mxico, buscando aves.

Mirando a mi alrededor, not bultos interesantes en algunos rboles. Le pregunt al gua lo que eran, y me dijo que eran nidos de termitas. Dijo que hay unos 3000 tipos de ellas y que representan 25% de la poblacin de insectos de la tierra. La reina puede poner hasta 7 millones de huevos en sus 20 aos de vida. Le pregunt cmo es que quedan rboles con tantas termitas. Me contest que sin termitas la tierra estara cubierta de hasta 6 metros de madera podrida. Tambin me dijo que un pjaro llamado el periquito de pecho anaranjado anida dentro del nido de las termitas porque las temperaturas clidas y estables ayudan a los huevos a empollar 5 das ms temprano.

Las termitas Nuestra misin en los caminos campestres del estado mexicano de Nayarit era encontrar e identificar pjaros del bosque. Sin embargo, mi atencin comenz a desviarse y not unos bultos grandes en algunos rboles. Le pregunt a nuestro gua qu eran, y me contest que eran nidos de termitas. Le ped que me contara ms. l era un brillante naturalista autodidacta y yo saba que su respuesta iba a ser reveladora. "Pues las termitas existen desde hace unos 200 millones de aos. Hay casi 3000 tipos de ellas, y representan 25% del total de la poblacin de insectos del planeta. La reina controla la actividades de la colonia, y pone unos 1000 huevos diarios. Quizs 5% de esos huevos pasan a ser reinas que despus fundan sus propias colonias". Yo saba que las termitas se alimentan de madera y me pregunt por qu, si existen en cantidades tan enormes, quedan rboles en la tierra. "Se ha calculado que, si las termitas no comieran madera muerta y podrida, la tierra podra estar enterrada en hasta 6 metros de madera descompuesta. Desde el punto de vista de los humanos, han hecho el planeta mucho ms habitable. En el pasado distante coman slo madera suave podrida. Con el paso de los milenios, se han asociado con un protozoario que vive en sus tripas y digiere la celulosa por ellas, lo que les permite vivir comiendo madera verde". Not que algunos nidos tienen un agujero, y le pregunt sobre esto. "Hay un pjaro llamado el periquito de pecho anaranjado que anida dentro del nido de las termitas. El pjaro cava una pequea cueva y pone sus huevos adentro. Las termitas se vuelven locas e intentan repeler al invasor lanzando un chorro de lquido pegajoso y txico, pero esto no parece molestar a los pjaros. Eventualmente las termitas hacen un muro para separar la cavidad, y ambas especies coexisten

en total aislamiento. El calor constante del nido de termitas permite que los huevos empollen unos 5 das antes que en la cavidad de un rbol". En la distancia, alguien anunci la presencia de un ave rara. El gua agarr sus binoculares y corri por el camino. Yo me qued mirando el nido de termitas durante un largo tiempo, considerando este insecto que masticaba madera mucho antes de que el homo sapiens llegara al mundo, y que indudablemente la seguir masticando despus que hayamos desaparecido. Comprensin 1. Cunto tiempo hace que las termitas existen en la tierra? 2. Cuntos huevos diarios pone la reina? 3. Por qu tantos nidos de termitas tienen agujeros? 4. Cmo reaccionan las termitas cuando el pjaro invade su nido? 5. Termites One day we were walking along a country road in Nayarit, Mexico, looking for birds. Looking around, I noticed some interesting growths in some of the trees. I asked the guide what they were and he said they were termite nests. He said there are nearly 3000 types and they represent 25% of the insect population on earth. The queen may lay 7,000,000 eggs in her 20 year lifetime. I asked him how there could be any trees left with so many termites. He said that without termites the earth would be covered with rotting wood to a depth of 20 feet. He also told me a bird called the orange-fronted parakeet nests inside the termite nest because the warm stable temperatures helps the eggs to hatch 5 days sooner. Termites Walking the country roads in the state of Nayarit, Mexico, our mission was to find and identify birds of the forest. But my attention began wandering elsewhere and I started noticing large growths on some trees. I asked our guide what they were, and he told me they were termite nests. I asked him to tell me more. He was a brilliant self-taught naturalist and I knew his answer would be revealing. "Well, termites have been around for about 200 million years. There are nearly 3000 types, and they represent 25% of the total insect population on the earth. The queen controls the activities of the colony, and lays up to 1000 eggs a day. Perhaps 5% of those eggs become queens that go onto found their own colony." I knew that termites feed on wood and I wondered why, if they exist in such overwhelming numbers, there are any trees left? "It has been estimated that without termites eating dead and rotting wood the earth could be up to 20 feet deep in decaying timber. From the human point of view, they have made the planet much more livable. At some time in the distant past they ate only rotten soft wood. But over the millennia, a partnership has evolved with a protozoa that lives in their gut and digests cellulose for them, allowing them to eat living green wood." I had noticed that some of the nests have a hole in them, and I asked him about this. "There is a bird called the orange-fronted parakeet that nests inside the termite nest. This bird excavates a little cave and lays its eggs inside. The termites go into a frenzy and try to repel the invader by squirting a noxious sticky fluid, but this doesn't seem to bother the bird. Eventually the termites completely wall off the cavity and the two life forms coexist in complete isolation. The steady warmth of the termite nest allows the eggs to hatch an average of 5 days earlier than in the cavity of a tree." "Thick-Billed Kingbird," someone yelled off in the distance. The guide grabbed his binoculars and hurried up the road. But I stood looking up at that termite nest for a long time, contemplating this insect that was chomping on wood long before we homo sapiens arrived on the scene, and will undoubtedly still be chewing long after we make our exit.