Flying Termites Take a Dangerous Journey to a New Life, Deep Look

After the first big rain, western subterranean termites swarm by the thousands. Hungry ants, spiders and birds pick them off as they emerge from the soil. The survivors fly off to find mates, and quickly drop their delicate wings to start new underground colonies. If youre really unlucky, theyll build tubes of mud and saliva from their nest to yours. DEEP LOOK is an ultraHD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. These massive swarms of western subterranean termites happen once a year in California on a warm, windless day shortly after the first big rain that ended the dry summer. Winged termites called alates push through the softened soil. They crawl out of cracks in the road and holes in tree stumps. Bigheaded soldier termites stand guard to defend them. Underground colonies send these alates up to reproduce with alates from ne