The mystery of the African fairy circles might finally be understood as science stepped in to give a logical explanation to the landscape. While it has been believed to be a product of a supernatural phenomenon, scientists finally have a better understanding about the intricacy and the complexity of the patterns. The new study shows how insects and plants might be clever survivors of nature.
A research recently published by the journal Nature has shed some light to the mysterious African circles that people has long been looking at as works of supernatural forces like fairies. The formations in the Namib Desert are circles of land which are a couple of feet wide. Although they create a stunning pattern over the desert, this formations had locals and scientists mystified for ages.
As the Washington Post reports, the circles in that desert appear to be almost perfectly round which are formed by fringes of grasses enclosing the round area of land. A more amusing fact about the so-called African fairy circles is that the rings align to form a hexagonal pattern which looks like it was arranged to appear like a Chinese checkers board. The rings are arranged uniformly and after some time they fade away and die. Following this nature of the African fairy circles, a lot of people believe that the patterns are out of this world.
The Himba people who lived among the African fairy circles believed in the myth that the patterns are footprints of gods who walked through Earth at the beginning of time. Others though believe that these are dead spots created when a dragon breathed his poison out through that desert. Scientists then argued over the more pragmatic reasons of the circles' existence. Some researchers claimed they were caused by tiny insects who ate the grass eventually forming a large circle pattern. On the other hand, others would believe that the formations are caused by how the plants organize themselves as noted by Phys.org.
Ecologist Rob Pringle of the Princeton University says that the African fairy circles might be a "a little bit of both" the compelling explanations. Using computer models, Pringle's team demonstrated how termites can interact with the grass that grows around their territories in a complex system to form rings. This research reportedly explained how the large circles were formed and arranged, and also revealed reasons for the emergence of the grassy spaces between them. While the results of the research do not give definite answer to why the fairy circles grow, it is believed that these African fairy circles teach a lesson in math, geometry and physics as taught by no less than nature itself.
