3 Of The Coolest Things Built By Bugs

Long before humans were capable of making complex structures such as shopping malls, skyscrapers, and fast food restaurants, some insects dominated the land with their architectural prowess. The following are some of the most amazing structures built by insects.

#1. Geometry of Bees

Everyone has seen the honeycomb and most people recognize the hexagon shape for their little compartments. But do you know why bees choose the hexagon?

Hexagons are one of the only three shapes that can fit right next to each other without leaving gaps, along with squares and equilateral triangles. Bees chose the hexagon because the hexagon has a smaller total perimeter than either triangles or squares which maximizes efficiency. This allows the bees to produce and store more honey.

#2. Termite Mounds

Termites are not something that you want in your home, but it is hard not to give them a little credit for their architectural masterpieces in the wild. There are over 1000 species of termites and, more specifically, the species located in most parts of Africa and Australia develop mounds for their nests. Some of these mounds can surpass over 9 meters in height!

 
The real masterpiece of these mounds are not the sizes though. The masterpiece is that termites install ventilation systems into the mounds to maintain the internal temperature of the nest to a steady 32 degrees Celsius. This temperature is needed in order to keep the fungus, that the termites live off, thriving. Termites use a special type of fungus that is located at the center of the nest. This fungus is the termites primary food source. As for the ventilation systems, intakes are built at the bottom of the mound taking cool air throughout the tunnels of the mound. The stale and warm air already inside is pushed up and escapes through an opening at the top of the mound. Termites really know how to stay cool.

#3. Cumulative Spider Webs

Everybody has seen a spider web and most people know that spiders usually spend their lives all by themselves and, in most cases, cannibalize other spiders. However, in one extremely rare case in 2007, spiders made a 180 meter long spider web.

 A particularly wet summer brought a massive increase of bugs in Texas, instead of fighting over food, over a million spiders from at least a dozen different species cooperated in building this colossal freak of nature. Although it has happened before, cases like these are extremely rare and, well, also extremely creepy. The web was so thick that in some parts it blotted out the sun. Imagine running through that.