Coneheads, egg stacks, and anteater attacks: The dominance of a termite queen - Barbara L. Thorne episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 23, 2026 · 6 MIN

Coneheads, egg stacks, and anteater attacks: The dominance of a termite queen - Barbara L. Thorne

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Take a look inside the conehead termite colony as a queen begins her reign as one of the longest living insects in the animal kingdom.--A single determined termite braves countless threats to participate in the only flight of her lifetime. She evades the onslaught of predators as she lands, flips off her wings, secretes pheromones, and attracts a mate. But she's not alone. Unlike most termite species, conehead termite colonies can have multiple queens and kings. Barbara L. Thorne details the reign and duties of termite royalty.Lesson by Barbara L. Thorne, directed by Thomas Johnson Volda.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/coneheads-egg-stacks-and-anteater-attacks-the-reign-of-a-termite-queen-barbara-l-thorneDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/coneheads-egg-stacks-and-anteater-attacks-the-reign-of-a-termite-queen-barbara-l-thorne#digdeeper ----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li, Cristóbal Moenne, Dawn Jordan, Prasanth Mathialagan, Samuel Doerle, David Rosario and Dominik Kugelmann - they-them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take a look inside the conehead termite colony as a queen begins her reign as one of the longest living insects in the animal kingdom.--A single determined termite braves countless threats to participate in the only flight of her lifetime. She evades the onslaught of predators as she lands, flips off her wings, secretes pheromones, and attracts a mate. But she's not alone. Unlike most termite species, conehead termite colonies can have multiple queens and kings. Barbara L. Thorne details the reign and duties of termite royalty.Lesson by Barbara L. Thorne, directed by Thomas Johnson Volda.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/coneheads-egg-stacks-and-anteater-attacks-the-reign-of-a-termite-queen-barbara-l-thorneDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/coneheads-egg-stacks-and-anteater-attacks-the-reign-of-a-termite-queen-barbara-l-thorne#digdeeper ----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Michael Aquilina, Jason A Saslow, Yansong Li, Cristóbal Moenne, Dawn Jordan, Prasanth Mathialagan, Samuel Doerle, David Rosario and Dominik Kugelmann - they-them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NOW PLAYING

Coneheads, egg stacks, and anteater attacks: The dominance of a termite queen - Barbara L. Thorne

0:00 6:03

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

La Finanza in Soldoni Massimo Famularo - Hypercast Podcast e newsletter indipendente di informazione ed educazione finanziaria.Nessuno mi paga per vendervi niente e voi non mi pagate per dirvi in cosa investire. Newsletter http://lafinanzainsoldoni.substack.com/Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/c/MassimoFamularoBloghttps://massimofamularo.com/X(ex-Twitter)https://x.com/MassimoFamularo---Questo podcast fa parte di Hypercast Network — 📧 Per proposte commerciali scrivi a: [email protected] TED Talks Society and Culture Thought-provoking videos about life and being human, with ideas from business leaders, psychologists and researchers speaking onstage at the TED conference, TEDx events and partner events around the world. You can also download these and many other videos free on TED.com, with an interactive English transcript and subtitles in up to 80 languages. TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. TSOB w/ Dr. G--The Sex Ed of Blackfolk Dr. Tracie Q. Gilbert: Sexuality Educator and Podcaster T.S.O.B. with Dr. G is a weekly podcast that offers intellectual table talk about race and sexuality. Join educator and researcher Dr. Tracie Q. Gilbert as she chats with amazing sex educators, counselors, and therapists, applying a professional lens to sexiness, health and healing in the new millennium. Scar(r)ed For Life pjwrench A nostalgic, banter-full and analytical delve into all the TV shows, movies, games, books, and other media that scared (and scarred!) us s***less when we were children in the 90s. Ranging from the infamous to the obscure, from The Wizard of Oz to The Demon Headmaster, from Tomb Raider to fairytales, we’ve offer up 2 classic pieces of entertainment to reminisce and wax lyrical. Enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of TED-Ed?

This episode is 6 minutes long.

When was this TED-Ed episode published?

This episode was published on June 23, 2026.

What is this episode about?

Take a look inside the conehead termite colony as a queen begins her reign as one of the longest living insects in the animal kingdom.--A single determined termite braves countless threats to participate in the only flight of her lifetime. She...

Can I download this TED-Ed episode?

Yes, you can download this episode by clicking the download button on the episode player, or subscribe to the podcast in your preferred podcast app for automatic downloads.
URL copied to clipboard!