When we think of villages, we usually imagine something uniquely human: planned neighbourhoods, infrastructure and communities working together to survive. But across the natural world, many animals have been building their own versions of villages long before humans ever used tools.
From underground tunnel networks to bird ‘apartment blocks’, these animal architects don’t just build shelters – they create organised communities. Considering scale, complexity, and cooperation, these animals prove that civilisation isn’t exclusive to humans.
- It spans 6000 km of the coasts of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy – the animal that builds cities
- Supersized animal homes: From ant megacities and termite towers to giant bird nests we take a tour of nature’s mega mansions
Animals that build villages
Ants
Ants construct enormous underground cities with ventilation systems, food storage, nurseries, waste chambers and highway-like tunnels. If left undisturbed, an ant hill is potentially immortal – with some colonies spanning acres and housing millions of ants.
- Ants guide: what ant supercolonies are, how long ants live and just why they get stuck in a death spiral
- How billions of ants have been re-designing a London park
Termites
Termites build homes in trees or in chunks of rotten wood – but when they build them underground, they create above-ground chimneys for ventilation. And it's these chimneys that are known as termite mounds. Termite mounds function like buildings: despite extreme heat outside, stable internal temperatures are maintained.
The Eastgate Centre, in Zimbabwe, was inspired by the way termite mounds are built to maintain internal temperature.
- They look like ants, they act like ants – but these destructive, house-wrecking little terrors are no ants
- It can be seen from space and contains a staggering two hundred million mounds, each one nine metres across and two and a half metres tall
Prairie dogs
Prairie dog ‘towns’ can stretch for miles (with the largest reportedly spanning hectares) and include separate family zones, communication systems and complex burrow layouts. These burrows provide shelter from predators such as coyotes, eagles and snakes.
- It was home to 400 million chattering residents and almost the size of Ireland – and was deep underground
- It barks like a dog, looks like a cross between a squirrel and a hamster and is the size of a bowling pin – meet an adorable, but little-known, American creature
Prairie dogs are often described as ecosystem engineers, as they help maintain grassland habitat and old burrows can also act as shelters for other species.
Sociable weavers
Sociable weavers (a species of bird) build dense nest colonies, with hundreds of woven nests sometimes hanging from a single tree. Each nest is handwoven, forming temperature-controlled and weather-resistant housing.
Despite the bird's relatively small size, the sociable weavers' nest are among the largest built by any bird – with entire trees becoming bird apartment blocks.
Beavers
Beavers are one of the most well-known examples of ecosystem engineers: rather than just building homes, beavers reshape entire ecosystems. Their dams and lodges create long-lasting wetland habitat that benefit countless other species. And they even help mitigate the damage from wildfires, as captured in satellite imagery.
- Looking for beavers? These are the tell-tale signs that a beaver is nearby
- US officials parachuted 76 beavers into the Idaho wilderness – then something astounding happened
Beavers construct damns to raise the water levels around their lodges. This acts as a natural barrier and makes it difficult for predators to gain access to their lodges.
Naked mole rats
These mammals live in eusocial colonies with a queen, workers and soldiers. This type of highly organised colony is most commonly seen in insects such as termites and ants. The tunnel networks of naked mole rats can stretch several kilometers, complete with designated rooms for food, sleeping and waste.
- It stretches up to 2.5 miles, is 2.5 metres deep and is home to 300 of the weirdest, most rule-breaking animals on the planet
- Naked mole rat: what they are and how the queen rules the colony
Meerkats
Meerkat burrow systems are underground to protect them from the sun and heat. The systems can be five metres long and have multiple entrances, lookout posts and sleeping chambers.
While the burrow systems made by meerkats are smaller than others on this list, they’re still carefully maintained and shared by large family groups. A group of meerkats will use up to five separate burrows at a time – so they really living in something close to a village.
Coral polyps
While coral polyps might be one of the slowest builders on this list, they create one of the most complex habitats on Earth. Over generations, coral polyps construct reef systems (more commonly referred to as coral reefs) that function as underwater megacities.
Coral polyps have a hard limestone exoskeleton at their base and a coral reef begins when a polyp attaches itself to a rock using this skeleton. This polyp then divides into clones, using this skeleton to attach to each other. A colony of single organisms is created and over time, these colonies join together, eventually becoming a coral reef.
- It's hundreds of years old and it's so huge it can be seen from space – discover this magical underwater spectacle
- Coral reefs guide: what is coral and coral bleaching, and species to spot
Weaver ants
If insects weren’t already dominating this list, weaver ants also deserve a spot. By stitching leaves with larval silk, essentially using the larva "like a living tube of glue", they form suspended tree villages. As a single colony of weaver ants can spread its nest across trees, these creatures essentially create ‘living’ bridges. This allows colonies to contain as many as 100,000 ants.
Spiders
While most spiders are solitary, scientists discovered a huge spider's nest (thought to be the biggest in the world) in an underground cave.
But what puzzled them the most was the fact that two different spider species were found in it: something that has never been documented before.
Monk parakeets
Monk parakeets are the only members of the parrot species to build their own nests. And they're certainly impressive, as they're sometimes the size of a small car. Each chamber is inhabited by a family group, with separate entrances being built for each breeding pair.
Originally a woodland species, the monk parakeet has spread to cities where they build their huge nests in trees or human-made structures such as telegraph poles. This has caused such a problem in places such as Madrid that they are considered fire risks – and you certainly wouldn't want one falling on your head.
