The Namib Desert, which runs along the western coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, appears from above like a crater-filled surface of an alien planet. Scattered throughout the region are circular formations of grass with conspicuously barren centers, called “fairy circles.” The circles have long been a mystery of science, but according to a study published today (March 28) in Science, they may indeed have an ecological purpose: preserving moisture. The researchers found that a species of sand termite eats the water-sucking grass in the circles’ centers, thereby conserving water in the soil to help protect the insects against their desert habitat.
“[It’s] like an oasis in the desert,” said Norbert Juergens, a biologist at the University of Hamburg and sole author of the paper, who found a host of ant-eating and plant-eating animals near the oases. Geckos, aardvarks, jackals, omnivorous ants—the termites’ bizarre behavior was supporting an entire ...
