Africa is mentioned as one of the settings in which fungus cultivation evolved independently, providing a concrete example of convergent social-insect agriculture rather than a sustained geographical setting in the book’s argument.

Fungus Farming

The comparison places termites in Africa alongside several New World ant species that cultivate fungus gardens. The text singles out South American parasol ants as the best-known example: their colonies can exceed two million individuals, and their extensive underground nests contain chambers for cultivated fungi. Workers chew leaves into compost, sow a particular fungus, and later harvest it for themselves and their brood. The leaves are therefore crop material, not the ants’ direct food.

Independent Evolution and Significance

The African reference marks the striking parallel between ant and termite agriculture. The systems are described as having evolved independently in quite unrelated groups, showing that settled cultivation can emerge more than once when it offers an efficient way to obtain food. In the ant example, fungi break down leaf material more effectively than the ants’ own stomachs; the ants, in turn, propagate the fungi and weed out competing species. The passage presents this association as a possible mutual benefit, while using the African termite comparison to emphasize that comparable agricultural arrangements need not share a single origin.