The pace of evolution of ants and termites (over 100 million years) was slow enough to be balanced by counterevolution in the rest if life. As a result, insects were not able to tear down the rest of the terrestrial biosphere by force of numbers, but became vital elements of it. The ecosystems they dominate today are not only sustainable but depend on them.
In sharp contrast, human beings of the single species Homo Sapiens emerged in the last several hundred thousand years and spread around the world only during the last sixty thousand years. There was no time for us to coevolve with the rest of the biosphere. Other species were not prepared for the onslaught. This shortfall soon had dire consequences for the rest of life.
(Edward O. Wilson, The social conquest of Earth)
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