Why are Termites Attracted to Ink?
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Termites
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Termites are small, pale insects that live in colonies not unlike ants. They're usually found in dirt or living inside wood. Also like ants, termites have a caste system, with a single queen, soldier termites, worker termites and young. Termites' main food source is cellulose, the material that plants, and especially wood, are made from. In nature, this is used to break down dead wood into nutrients that plants can use, but there are other problems. Termites can be extremely damaging to houses, furniture, fences and other items that are made from their favored food source. An additional factor that scientists have noticed is that termites often groom each other with their mouths, a process which is encouraged by the attraction of secretions on the bodies of other termites.
Ink
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It has been a known fact for more than 30 years that termites are attracted to certain kinds of ink. Specifically, termites are attracted to the ink used by a variety of ballpoint pens. This is especially true of ballpoint pens produced by the company Papermate. If thick, bold tracks of this ink are laid down in a pattern, termites will follow it almost unerringly. The explanation for this unusual behavior is that the ink used in these pens is reminescent of pheromones produced by termites. As a result, the termites will follow the ink wherever it leads, attracted by its scent.
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Uses
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While this small, scientific curiosity has been used in elementary school classes and to entertain people, termite research is becoming popular again. One of the applications of this and other forms of knowledge about these insects is to design traps and extermination methods by which termites will simply follow a trail of ink right into a trap. Other research is simply to add to the body of known facts about termites, though the more the scientific community discovers about any given creature, the more it finds there is to discover, even about such humble insects.
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