Mini termite mound

A termite mound near Fitzroy Falls in the Morton National Park. It’s about one metre high and houses about half a million coptotermes lacteus (milk termites). They feast mainly on dead wood, and the mound is built from tiny soil pellets, termite saliva and body waste. The mound protects the termites from predators: only echidnas and goannas have claws long enough to dig into it.
 
All this I know only because the National Parks and Wildlife Service has put up a helpful notice.
 
Sadly, though, this specimen pales into insignificance when compared with the magnetic termite mounds in the Litchfield National Park in the Northern Territory (extra, photographed in 2011). These can be up to four metres in height. They’re called magnetic termites because they orient their wedge shaped mounds north to south to minimise exposure to the sun, which is pretty fierce up there.