Study: Mysterious ‘Fairy Circles’ Not Caused by Termites
- 10 years ago
It looks like the cause of the ‘fairy circles’ that dot Namibia’s grasslands will have to go unexplained for a bit longer, as the popular termite theory has been disproven.
It looks like the cause of the ‘fairy circles’ that dot Namibia’s grasslands will have to go unexplained for a bit longer, as the popular termite theory has been disproven.
The round, empty patches in an otherwise vegetated landscape have been confounding scientists for years.
Expanding as large as 65 feet in diameter, they have been known to endure for as many as 75 years.
Many guesses as to what causes them have been made, including leaking grass-killing substances, hungry ants, and overzealous termites.
Not long ago, the termite theory picked up a bit of credence when several were found living in the soil of several of the barren patches.
Research into the possibility continued until recently, when it was decided not to be as likely a cause as originally thought.
The deciding factor came via an aerial analysis of the circles.
It was observed that there was a pronounced regularity to the patterns of distribution.
Termites, say the scientists, are simply not that organized in their dispersal.
It’s more their nature to establish colonies in scattered and irregular way, meaning they couldn’t possibly be responsible for creating that precise an arrangement.
Thus, the mystery lives on.
It looks like the cause of the ‘fairy circles’ that dot Namibia’s grasslands will have to go unexplained for a bit longer, as the popular termite theory has been disproven.
The round, empty patches in an otherwise vegetated landscape have been confounding scientists for years.
Expanding as large as 65 feet in diameter, they have been known to endure for as many as 75 years.
Many guesses as to what causes them have been made, including leaking grass-killing substances, hungry ants, and overzealous termites.
Not long ago, the termite theory picked up a bit of credence when several were found living in the soil of several of the barren patches.
Research into the possibility continued until recently, when it was decided not to be as likely a cause as originally thought.
The deciding factor came via an aerial analysis of the circles.
It was observed that there was a pronounced regularity to the patterns of distribution.
Termites, say the scientists, are simply not that organized in their dispersal.
It’s more their nature to establish colonies in scattered and irregular way, meaning they couldn’t possibly be responsible for creating that precise an arrangement.
Thus, the mystery lives on.