Path to the Termite

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Path to the termite¶s nest

Though most of us in our toddlerhood made friends with ants and all those insects who didn¶t scare us, how many of us have ever observed an ant colony or an anthill, asks Eugene Marais. Eugene Marais was a scientist, a writer and moreover a very observant human being. In soul of the white ant he sketches a termitarium skillfully with the wit and sensitivity of a poet. Once we finish reading this amazing work which is way ahead of the time of its writer, we wonder at the skill and analysis of this writer whose assumptions never failed him. In line with his observation he claims the whole termitarium is to be considered as a single organism and everything works around on instincts. Marais draws with words the picture of a termitary as a single animal whose organs are not fused together like in human beings. According to him some of the termites form, the mouth and the digestive system, some defensive weapons, others generative organs. Every one of the winged termites is a potential king or queen. The wings take months to develop Marais has finds a thing or two about the collective psyche of a termitary. He finds the queen being immovable that she is captivated in a cell that¶s her throne. The only job she has is to provide an endless stream of eggs from which the millions of termites hatch out, finally to be devoured by her own progenies when she overgrows the capacity of her cell. The queen is replaced by another potential queen. When the termites grow wings they fly out of their termitary to form a new nest, establishing a new colony. Here, he discusses in length about the communicative system involved in the formation and the functioning of termite colony going in length explaining the language and methods of communication among the insects. He uses the example of toktokkie beetles of South Africa which uses a MorseCode of its own. He tames a toktokkie beetle to follow his knocks on the ground and finds the behavior ridiculously human like. 'I'm positive I heard her knock! Where can she be? There, I hear it again!'

Soul movements Marais defines inner functioning of a termite as revolving around a collective instinctual psyche or soul movements. ´ There are some movements in individuals of a community which are determined by some purpose of benefit to the community. We term this phenomenon the 'group psyche or soul' Unlike other individual animals in which nature exerts its forces through certain irresistible urges like the sexual and parental urges, the urge to defend, the urge for appetite and thirst termites completely lack any sort of individualistic feelings. All actual motivations are directed by signals from the queen's chamber. This is where he asserts his claims of the functioning of termitary rather revolves around the oneness of it cause and effect, the survival of the termitary. He takes us through a journey of the functioning of the animal body, the diffusion of the chemical components of its cell wall matters to much simpler and finer elements. The similarity of the functioning of the animal and that of termitary is striking. Like human skin the outer wall of a termitary has to withstand many forces of different seasons like torrential rain

falls, droughts, heat, frost, hail and wind yet the skin remains pretty intact like a human skin. He never observed termites doing anything outwards to heal the skin. Everything happens within the termitary, yet it manages the outer shell meticulously.

Don¶t do this at home!

Catch a pair of our common house lizards and tame them. With a lancet make two or three longitudinal cuts in the tail. In some cases you will initiate a curious reflex and an abnormal growth will begin. Instead of merely repairing the wound, a new tail is grown. If you amputate the new tail, you may find a double tail sprouting. In this way you can -- if all goes well -- manufacture a lizard with seven tails. In the same way we can manufacture a termitary with seven towers, to the great disadvantage of the whole community. We cannot make a lizard's tail; nor can we make a tower with the same materials and in the same way as the termite. But we would be far too clever to build in such a faulty, unnecessary fashion.

Scorpion Mother Marais tames a 5.5 inches long female scorpion to study about the mother - child bonding among the insects. He witnesses his pet paralyzing and killing a chicken with its stinging lance. Yet the same scorpion allows him to pet it and it feels his finger with its claws and on recognizing him it withdraws its venomous lance. On giving birth to its white little babies it becomes more cautious and responsible and always wields its sting protectively over their heads while carrying them on her back. His observations make him convinced about the lack of any sort of individual psyche among the termites. In termites all functions controlled by the urge to survive and all signals received from the queen¶s chamber that it acts as the nerve centre of all the impulses of a termitarium.

Marais goes further deep into the instincts of primates to explain the significance of inherited instinct among the termites thus getting closer to his explanation of the soul movements of the termites. These inherited instincts tell a termite to where to get its food and what to eat and where to build its nest.

Let¶s quote from Dr. Bugnion of Celyon to bring this rather short reflective on the great work of Eugene Marais so that we all stop and watch a termitarium with awe!

He says: 'When the biologist, having satisfied himself that (1) the soldiers who are trusted with the task of defense, are totally blind, and that (2) the workers who do the repairs are small, insignificant insects, not more than

five millimeters in length, when he sees the collective drive of the termites, he becomes perplexed and amazed. His wonder increases when he tries to discover the power that governs the termites and the moral law which binds them together -- and finds no trace of it.

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