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Rivas explained that over time the wood weathered from brown to gray and was termite resistant.

In his work Invisible Cities, he was inspired by termite mounds to reimagine what architecture might look like in the future.

"As an example of such a toolset, chimpanzees in the Congo region first use a strong stick to dig a deep tunnel through hard soil to reach an underground termite nest," explains Gunasekaram.

She was the first person to witness and document chimpanzees making and using tools – the primates prepared sticks to fish for termites.

Microbiologists have long known that those animals capable of digesting lignin -- like termites -- host specialized, symbiotic colonies of microbes in their guts that do the work of breaking the lignin down for them.