Fairy Circles - what are they?

Either Fairy rings, or someone's really bad at golf.
(Courtesy-Mike and Ann Scott/Namib Rand Nature Reserve)

If you trek through the grasslands of Nambia or Angola, you may come across some eerie circular patches of land where the grass doesn't seem to grow at all. These are dubbed Fairy Circles and must not be confused with Fairy Rings, a circular growth of mushrooms/fungi. Fairy rings are seen in many parts of the world while Fairy circles are exclusive to Africa.

So what exactly are these mysterious patches? Scientists have failed to come up with plausible explanations for these growths. These patches seem to grow for decades then die, leading to one researcher, a Walter Tschinkel, to believe that these circles are in fact "alive". Initially, he was led to believe that the cause of the patches was due to termite activity underneath the soil, releasing toxins or just destroying the grass from underneath. That, however, did not turn out to be the case, nor was it anything to do with the soil and nutrients. Any soil placed from outside the circular patch into the circle did not cause any vegetative growth.


By looking at satellite images of the same sites over a 4 year period, he saw a decrease in the radius of the circles (regrowth of vegetation around the edge of the circles), leading him to believe that  these circles are indeed alive or dynamic. He estimated that smaller circles have a lifespan of around 30 years while the larger ones have twice the lifespan of the smaller ones.


He still, like many other scientists, does not know what exactly causes them or rather, why they occur. According to Namibian folklore, these rings constitute spiritual and magical powers to their shamans of old.
Pretty interesting indeed. Must be a colony of mutants living deep underground and the smoke from their underground chimneys cause these rings...


-Via ScienceNow