Termites Cannibalize Their Co-Workers for the Good of the Colony

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Formosan subterranean termites, which are in the same genus as Asian subterranean termites. (Credit: Scott Bauer/USDA)

(Inside Science) — The appetites of social termites extend to cannibalizing their co-workers after death. It’s done for the greater good of the community.

“Termites have a lot of strategies to keep the nest and the members of the colony clean,” said Luiza Helena Bueno da Silva, a zoology graduate student at São Paulo State University in Brazil and the lead author of a st

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