Termite Fairy Circles

fairy circles 215x156I am sure that this is a dangerously brazen move that could undoubtedly upset our dedicated yet limited readership for years to come. However as an Austin pest control provider I feel it is well with my job description, nay my duty to drop some knowledge on you here and now. So watch your feet cause you might just step in some truth.

Termites are curious little critters. We basically hate them, all the time. They tear up your house and then you need to call a termite and pest control company to give you an expensive termite treatment. Now hopefully you have termite control over the colony that was just jacking your house for the past several years. This is a vicious cycle. Termite damage, termite and pest control company, termite treatment and finally termite control. All I ever hear, talk, or think about. Until today, I expanded my horizons to uncharted territories and read something written by some smart guy, or it could have been a girl, how presumptuous of me (and it was not Game of Thrones, although if you have time every Sunday @ 9 on HBO it can and will change your life, winter is coming). But, I digress. Let’s get back to the topic at hand. To recap we are sick of talking about termites, termite damage, termite and pest control, termite treatments, and termite control. But I love me some termites so we shall talk about termite fairy circles.

Ha, bet you didn’t see that coming, termite fairy circles. A termite fairy circle is just fun to say. Not sure if you are familiar with termite fairy circles, but they are real. Refer back to the above picture and be amazed. These circles have gone unexplained for years and years. They show up all over the desert in Africa and no one knows why or how. Here’s the run down. Fairy circles are bare patches of ground, often outlined with a fringe of tall grass, that cover the face of a 2000 kilometer long strip of desert that stretches from Angola to South Africa. I.E. you basic massice stretch of desert FYI. These formations are a bit of an anomaly, so smart people who wear smart little bifocals began to look into this situation.

This is where our fairy circle saga becomes even stranger. Walter Tschinkel, a biologist at Florida State University started to analyze about four years of satellite images of the formations in Namibia’s NamibRand Nature Reserve. These fairy circle had his gears turning. The image analysis showed that the fairy circles would pop up and disappear over the years, and appeared to be “alive”. So what he damn deal?

Now skip to another brainy guy, more of a Jurassic park type brain. Juergens is his name, fairy circles be his game. He was also interested in these formations once he noticed that they come and go. He started to study and record what was happening at the fairy circle and collecting all the Hakuna Matata info, like what animals enjoyed the circle of life around fairy circles. He also dug some trenches to see what was lurking below. Trenches, just like the ones you might find a Bug Master employee digging around your home should you need a termite treatment at your abode to get complete termite control. Plug.

This went on for a long while, which I must say is a grand commitment to excellence since our friend and college Mr. Juergens was in and around Angola, which was recently knee deep in full on civil war. Anyways, home boy went deep, he came to find that one little critter was always there: the sand termite.

Not everyone is buying the sand termite being the cause but it seems logical, although not scientifically proven just yet. Not a lot of demand to prove the source of fairy circles. But the point is that these guys are amazing and have created a little eco system to help retain water in the desert, termites be needing water you see. These fairy circles retain plenty of water for termites and this may promote the grass belt around the circle giving the termites yet another food source when time get even more rough than your basic desert conditions. So in a nut shell since you don’t live in Angola, you will probably not run into the sand termite building fairy circles, but if you see good ol fashion subterranean termites give me a call and I will be glad to get you fixed up with a free inspection and a customer termite treatment plan to get rid of your termites. Boom, drop mic and walk away.