10 Facts About Worms

Today I Found Out... 10WORM CACTS According, to done the Rothamsted Experimental Station, depending on soil quality, there can be anywhere from million earthworms per acre of land. Poor quality soil will have closer to the 250,000 range; good quality soil, such as farm land, will have closer to the 1.75 million worms per acre. This means that on an average Fårm with livestock, the weight of the worms beneath the surface of the land will likely outweigh the livestock that walk on top. research at 250,000-1.75 Earthworms can consume about 1/2 to I times their body weight every day and can process about 1O pounds_of organic material per worm per year. They alsỏ will eat just about any dead organic matter along with processing a even tiny rocks that have'organic mafter on them, grinding the rocks into a paste that will enrich the soil. They also Force air through creaté, thereby aeráting the soil as they work. In the process of doing all this, they process and enrich the soil; they aren't just hature's garbage disposals, but 'also natůral gardeners. variety of garbage and the underground tunnels they 3 Charles Darwin noted the amazing ability of earthworms to bury things in the soil, even entire buildings as they grădually process soil underneath and around the buildings having it sink deeper and deeper over time. They áre also quite efficient at burying and procéssing small 'things like coins and random bits of garbage, which they will literally grab and pull below the surfacé where théy can safely process it. are hermaphrodites (ie an Earthworms animal with both male 'and female sex organs). So when two worms mate, both worms produce children. The worms mate by getting in more or less a 69 position, exchanging sperm with one another later, a cocoon is then secreted by the clitellum band, which is visible near the front of the worm. As it's sliding out of the secreted ring 'the worm deposits its eggs and the other worm's sperm into the ring. The ring then seals itself once the worm is completely out. Eventually, the, baby earthworms emerge fully developed and' ready to go procešs some soil and be the stáple of å lot of animal's diets. Much This is roughly ring shaped. Earthworms are able to regenerate most lost segments of their bodies, though this varies šomewhat from species to špecies and the extent of the damage to themselves. In 1972, it was proven that some species of earthworm arė able to regenerate to the extent that you can grow two living worms from one bisected worm. not common among most earthworm species; with most, the side with the head is the only one that survives, assuming the damage isn't too extreme. However, this is not only work tirelessly cultivating and Earthworms throughout their fertilizing soil for plants to grow, but also form the basis of many food chains. They are a staple for many types of birds, snakes, moles, hedgehogs, 'beetles, snails slugs and also are eaten by a variety of mammals such as foxes, bear's, etc. Charles Darwin earthworms, "it there are many other animals which have livés so far may went to say of as be doubted whether played so important a part in the history of the' world, as have these lowly organized creatures." He believed that éarthworms are wholly responsible for the top layer of rich soil ón the Earth. South African earthworms can grow as large as 22 feet long with the average length being about 6 Feet long The largest one ever found so far, being 22 Feet long, was found on a road side in 1967. Even though earthworms need to breathe, they have no lungs; rather, they breathe through their skin. This is why earthworms surface after heavy rains, even though it is extremely hazardous for them to do so. The high'water content of the soil after heavy rains doesn't allow gases to diffuse across their skin so if they don't surface, they will suffocate and die. Earthworms have no eyes, but they can sense light, particularly ón their front end. They use this sense toʻmake sure they avoid light' as much as possible. Most variefies of earthworms canhot handle direct sunlight for long becausethey can't allow the mucus on their skin to dry out or they will suffocate; second, direct exposure to UV rays for more than a few minutes to an hour. if they are exposed to uv light too long, they' will become paralyzedand die quite quicklý. This is for two reason; first, because most also can't handle 10 Fossil evidence shows that earthworm-like creatures have been around for at least a half a billion years, surviving the mass extinction of animals about 65 million years ago that finished off the dinosaurs, among others. There that have been discovered as much as 2 miles below the surface of the Earth. been earthworms Down there, temperatures can reach as high as 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Today, there are about 6000 species of earthworms known, of which about 120 species are widely distributed around the world. Designed by Noreen Sequeira OTODAYIFOUNDOUT.COM