Nozzle Head Termites
Termite Nest
We saw quite a few termite nests on the way to and from the cave. After Dr. Bundy poked the nest and termites started raining down like candy out of a pinata, we discovered that they were Nozzle Heads. Dr. Bundy caught a few in his hand, and to my sheer horror ate them! He told us that they tasted like pepper. Curiosity got the better of me, and I tried one along with Kirsten, Danielle, Will, Joe, and Dominique. Well what do ya know, they really do taste like pepper that you would put in your scrambled eggs! We collected a few and brought them back to the group that had gone ahead of us. Everyone was a good sport and tried one. Perhaps because Dr. Bundy was jokingly (I think) threatening to fail everybody if they didn't. We fondly refer to the experience as our entomology gang initiation haha.
So what are Nozzle Head Termites? The soldiers of the colony are able to spray chemicals out of their teardrop shaped head. Though not harmful to us humans, invaders may get a nasty surprise. You may have seen a more animated version of these little guys in the movie Ant when the ant soldiers were sent into battle.
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