Watch bizarre video of termites trapped in 'death spiral'

Bizarre footage shows termites locked in a "death spiral" — where they walk round and round in a circle following the insect ahead until they die from exhaustion.

In the clip, uploaded by Simon Jeffery to the Australia & New Zealand Fungus Identification group on Facebook, the termites  follow each other in a ring. The phenomenon has been observed in some colonies of social insects, such as termites and, more commonly, ants (Formicidae).

The footage was captured in Maleny in Queensland, Australia, about five years ago, Jeffery told Live Science in a message on social media. He was at a woodworking show and a man at one stall was giving a talk about the roles fungi and insects play in the ecosystem.    

"[He had] all different types of bark and all sorts of critters that break down the forest… It was a very cool stall," Jeffery said, adding he is not sure if the stall owner put the termites in the fungus. 

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Trail-following behavior in termites is controlled by specific pheromones that are produced by the abdominal sternal gland. They deposit these pheromones so nestmates can find the path back to the nest.

Thomas Chouvenc, assistant professor of urban entomology at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center at the University of Florida, told Live Science that trail-following enables termites to navigate blindly around their habitats. However, this way of navigating the world can sometimes go wrong.