Life With No Males? These Termites Show That It’s Possible

A discovery among termite colonies in Japan suggests that males can be discarded from advanced societies in which they once played an active role.

Queens, workers and soldiers of an all-female colony of Glytotermes nakajimai, a kind of termite.CreditCreditToshihisa Yashiro

By Steph Yin

Termites are often dismissed as nothing but home-destroying pests, less charismatic than bees, ants or even spiders.

In fact, termites have been doing incredible things since the time of dinosaurs, maintaining complex societies with divisions of labor, farming fungus and building cathedrals that circulate air the way human lungs do.

Now, add “overthrowing the patriarchy” to that list…