Terry Graham, age 12, of Vancouver, B.C. for the question:
How can termites thrive on wood?
Wood is composed mostly of cellulose, a tough material which not even a termite can digest. Yet we all know that these little posts thrive nn wooden beams and rafters. Whole buildings come tumbling down beease wooden supports have been devoured by termites. To do this destructive work the termites need help. The actual digesting of the wood is done by small, one‑celled creatures who live in the termite's‑stomach.
The little wood digesters are protozoa of the trichomonad class meaning the hairy ones. They are shaped like pears with the tapered end covered with hair‑like flagellates. The soft, rounded end is able to extend a false finger, a pseudopod, which grasps a fragment of wood and draws it into the body. The tough cellulose is digested into carbohydrates.
The carbohydrate food is dissolved in liquid and easily digested by the termite. It is likely that some protein and sugar is digested directly from the wood which the termite eats. Together with the carbohydrates provided by the trichomonads, the termite gets a balanced diet from a few woody splinters.
The trichomonad is .not a parasite. A true parasite eats at his host's table without giving anything in return. True, the trichomonad depends for his food upon the wood eaten by the termite. But without him the termite could not digest the wood. This give‑and‑take relationship is called symbiosis.
Termites are sometimes called white ants. But they are not ant's and not all of them are white. They belong to the Isoptera group of insects ‑the equal‑winged ones. Certain members of the colony wear two equal pairs of slender, gauzy wings.
The colony is a fascinating social system. The king and queen are the parents of all its members. The king is a slender handsome fellow with a yellow body and gauzy wings. The queen is like a big, fat catorpillar, full of eggs. Below them in the social scab; is a group of winged princes and princesses. Those elegant youngsters wait around for the time when they can fly off and form termite nests of their own.
The nest is guarded by the soldier caste. Some are helmeted to take blows on the head. Some, with long snouts, are able to gum up the enemy by spraying a sticky chemical. Others, with massive jaws, are able to chew up the enemy.
The workers are nymphs, newly hatched from the eggs. They are pale, ant‑like creatures, about a quarter of an inch long. However, unlike the ants, they have no dainty waists. And, along with everyone else in the termite colony, they are quite blind,
About 50 different kinds of termites live in North America: Since they cannot abide bright sunlight, the workers build competent mud tunnels from the nest to the wooden food supply.