Earthworm Facts
Earthworm Facts
2. The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) referred to worms as "the intestines of the earth".
3. Did you know the ancient Egyptians were the first to recognize the beneficial status of the earthworm? Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.) recognized the earthworms’ contribution to Egyptian agriculture and declared them to be sacred. Removal of earthworms from Egypt was punishable by death. Egyptian farmers were not allowed to even touch an earthworm for fear of offending the god of fertility.
4. Earthworms have bodies that are made up of segments (small sections).
5. Earthworms have 5 hearts.
6. Earthworms don’t have lungs like we do, they breathe through their skin and will drown if submerged in water for too long.
7. Earthworms don’t have eyes but they have specialised cells at the front of their head that can detect light and dark.
8. Earthworms have chemo-receptors that can detect the chemistry of their surroundings. If the environment is too acidic they will move away to find a more suitable environment.
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10. Earthworms can eat a third of their body weight every day.
11. There are 26 different species of earthworm in the UK.
12. Darwin (a famous scientist) studied earthworms for 39 years. He played instruments to them to see if they could hear anything. He found that they could not hear noises but could sense vibrations through a solid object (e.g. soil).
13. The largest earthworm ever found was the Giant South African earthworm which was 22 ft long (around 6.5 metres).
14. An earthworm produces its own weight in casts everyday.
15. Earthworms can burrow as deep as fifteen feet.
16. Earthworms are 82% protein and are a food source for many people around the world.
17. Eating earthworms can reduce cholesterol, as the basic essential oil of earthworms is Omega 3.
18. Earthworms can produce more compost, in a shorter time, than any other method. Worm castings (the odorless excrement of the earth worm) in the soil are five times as rich in available nitrogen, seven times as rich in available phosphorus, three times as rich in available magnesium, two times as rich in available carbon, one and one half times as rich in available calcium and eleven times as rich in available potassium as anything else in the upper six inches of soil.
19. One thousand earthworms and their descendants, under ideal conditions, could convert approximately one ton of organic waste into high yield fertilizer in one year.
20. Worms need to stay moist in order to take in oxygen. So worms like a little bit of water in their
environment. But too much can cause them to drown!
21. Worms have no bones.
22. Worms have no legs. They move with the help of stiff bristles, or setae, on their skin and with their muscles.
23. Not sure which end of your worm is the head? Watch your worm move. Usually the head goes first. Also, the swollen part of the worm, or clitellum, is closer to the head than to the tail.
24. There are 2,700 different kinds of earthworms in the world!
25. Worms can feel vibrations in the ground.
26. Even without eyes, worms can sense light and dark. Do you know which they prefer?
27. When the weather is warm, you can simply set your worms outside under plants. They are very helpful to plants and flowers.
28. The most common worm is the earthworm, a member of phylum Annelid. Earthworms in general have been around for 120 million years, evolving during the time of the dinosaurs.
29. Earthworms live in the ground and help to condition the soil. They are very helpful for plants and fertilize the soil with their castings or excrement, while also aerating and draining the soil through constant burrowing. They eat soil that contains decaying leaves or roots. They will then process that into nutrients for plants.
30. Earthworms have long, cylindrical, soft bodies and do not have legs. Instead, they have small hairs, called setae, that help them move through the soil. An earthworm moves by stretching its body in the direction it wants to go. Then it scrunches up again. As it moves, it gets fatter and thinner with each movement.
31. An earthworm’s body has segments.
32. The middle segment, which is fatter and lighter than the rest of the body, is called the clitellum, or saddle, and is the reproductive organ.
33. Earthworms are hermaphrodites, both sexes in one animal, but can cross fertilize.
34. If a worm’s skin dries out, it will die (breathes through skin= requires moist skin). Also easier to move in wet environment.
35. First pointed segment has moveable lip (prostonium) used as grappling hook to hold food for its tiny mouth hole.
36. Need to maintain moist (not waterlogged) skin as they breathe through it.
37. These long-lived creatures will regrow if they lose a few segments but die if cut in half.
38. Worms are a delicacy for Maoris, eaten raw in New Guinea, fried in South Africa, and eaten in pies by the Japanese.
39. There are 3 million worms per acre-the size of a football pitch!
40. Between the head and saddle on adults are 5 hearts to pump blood.
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