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Plants

Termite Trivia

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* The termites on Earth outweigh humans on Earth.

* Termites have been around for 250 million years.

* Termite kings and queens can live for 15 years, and the queen is capable of laying one egg every 15 seconds.

* Termites rarely expose themselves to light.

* Termites work 24 hours a day; they do not sleep.

* A typically infested home may have three to four subterranean termite colonies around it, with as many as 1 million termites in each colony.

* Termites are found in every state except Alaska, although most occur in the southern part of the nation.

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Sources: Orkin Pest Control; National Pest Control Assn.

Termite Appetite

Annual wood consumption for one termite colony:

* Drywoods, one-tenth of a pound a year.

* Subterraneans, 7 pounds a year.

* Formosans, 1,000 pounds a year.

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Sources: Orkin Pest Control, National Pest Control Assn., UC Berkeley professor Vernard Lewis.

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