No Tunnel Alliance

4,000 years ago some termites started building a tunnel – and they’re still at it today.  The Brazilian termite tunnels are not visible to the above-ground viewer, but massive termite mounds are.  The mounds are the result of the termites dumping dug-up dirt, and they cover an area the size of Great Britain.  In fact, they are so massive that they are visible from space.  The mounds and the interconnected tunnel system are as old as ancient Egyptian pyramids, with the tunnels serving as the “greatest known example of ecosystem engineering by a single insect species.”  We’ll be impressed if man-made tunnels are in existence, and use, for as long.