A Giant Worm Farm
It was mid-January 2016, there had been negligible rain at Duma Tau Camp in northern Botswana, but in spite of that the Large Fever Berry trees had been green for the past two months or so.
It happened to be raining on that particular morning and while walking from my house to the main lodge I took particular notice of something that of late had been an interesting topic of conversation. It appeared at first glance that all was not well within the Croton megalobotrys family with their leaves fast disappearing under an onslaught from an army of worms who clearly considered this their favourite summer salad. Closer investigation however revealed that this was not some out of the ordinary disastrous plague, but rather a perfectly normal annual event for that 'neck of the woods'.
A few weeks earlier there were small moths all over the ground. They swarmed up in front of and all around the moving game viewing vehicles and even around our feet as we walked on the sand paths. At the time we didn’t give them much more than a cursory glance and comment, but it turns out they were moths from the Erebidae family all playing their part in perpetuating an intricate life cycle. It was mating and egg-laying season back then, with the resultant tons of worms a short while later.
If one stood quietly in amongst the large fever berry trees to be found lining the walkways in camp you could actually hear the worms munching away. I soon discovered that it wasn’t only munching I was hearing, but rather a combination of that together with the raining of tiny drops of faeces. Interesting! Maybe a tad gross when one is standing in the middle of it, but I couldn’t help marvelling at another perfect example of the ingenuity of nature. Those trees were healthy, had grown to be relatively big in size and appeared not to be too adversely affected by this year after year feasting.
It’s all a part of a cycle which is a part of a bigger cycle; the trees suck up a bit of water, take nutrients from the ground, energy from the sun and through an amazing process called photosynthesis create more energy and thereby grow more leaves which are in turn an edible form of energy for many creatures dependent on this food source, including the worms. Said worm comes along, munches the leaves, defecates on the ground below and this is broken down into nutrients such as nitrates ready to be absorbed by the tree again … and so the cycle goes.
It was at that point in my 'marvelling at nature' digression I was struck by an enlightening yet amusing thought …
I was standing right in the middle of a giant worm farm!
