You’ll see them in the savannah —
some are eight metres tall —
and when you’ve seen one mound,
you haven’t seen them all!

They’re built by tiny termites,
six millimetres long,
engineered with clever skill,
they’re absolutely strong.

With natural air-conditioning,
the heat just disappears; 
each multi-storey complex
can last one hundred years!

James Aitchison

Termite mounds in North Queensland’s savannah country. Photo by Ginette Pestana