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Hi, wild listeners. This is a fun episode. I know a lot of you, like myself, are music lovers,

as well as nature lovers. So we're all in for a treat. Before we start, I want to invite you to

join our Patreon, where you can find bonus content that didn't make it into the Wild episodes

and extended interviews

and extra bits and pieces with our favorite guests. The link is in the show notes. Okay, enjoy the show.

I love music. Maybe you do too, but where this music came from might surprise you.

This is from a band made up of insects. No, not the Beatles. That would be way too predictable, way too cheesy a joke.

Not beetles, but something pretty close.

Termites.

So this was all done by the termites themselves.

What you hear is a layer of four different instruments, actually.

Three of them are a piano, and one is a guitar.

This is Dr. Diego Ellis Soto. He's the conductor of this termite band, so to speak.

He recorded the movements of eight termites in a petri dish and mapped those movements to play notes on a musical scale.

The single guitar player, so Termite A, its location on the Petri dish and speed is what

determine how these guitar chords were played.

And then the piano, it's more the whole collective state of these termites.

Are they more asynchronous?

Are they transitioning to somewhat of harmony?

...