Earthworm Facts

20 Interesting Earthworm Facts You Might Not Have Known

How many earthworm facts do you know? Did you know, for instance, that earthworms can live up to 10 years and that the longest one ever found was more than 20 feet long? Earthworms are complicated creatures, despite the fact that they do not have any eyes, legs, arms, or teeth. Here is a list of 20 interesting earthworm facts that you might not have been aware of.

An earthworm does not have any eyes, arms, or legs. Their receptors, however, enable them to tell a difference in lightness.
There can more than one million earthworms in just one acre of land. This is something to consider the next time you take a look out across your yard.
There are somewhere around 2,700 different types of earthworms in the world.
The largest earthworm ever recorded was found in South Africa. From its nose to its tail it measured 22 feet long.
Earthworms are very important for soil composition. For one thing, when they burrow they bring subsoil to the top where it can be mixed with topsoil. In addition, the slime that they secrete contains nitrogen which can help hold soil particles together.
If you are raising an earthworm farm, it is important to keep the worms hydrated as they can die if their skin dries out.
Earthworms like to live in a place there is oxygen, a good temperature, moisture, and food. If these things are found lacking, then the earthworm will simply move.
One of the most interesting earthworm facts is that they are able to replicate lost segments, depending on the type of worm and the extent of damage that it has suffered. For instance, it might be able to replace a lost tail, but replacing a lost tail might be a little more difficult.
Earthworms contain both female organs, as well as male organs, making them hermaphrodites.
They are able to mate by joining their clitella together and exchanging sperm. Both worms then form an egg capsule. The baby worms hatch from cocoons that are small-they are even tinier than a grain of rice.
Worms are able to eat their own weight in food every day. They get most of their nutrients from bacteria, fungi, decaying roots and leaves, and protozoans.

Earthworms are able to breathe their skin. In order to move dissolved oxygen into their bloodstream, they coat themselves in mucous.

The bump in the middle of the earthworm is the clitellum, which helps the worm in the reproduction process. It also contains the cells that secrete the mucous. When the soil dries up, some earthworms lose their clitellums. However, it can come back when the moisture returns.
They are cold blooded creatures. When the temperature is near freezing, they will hibernate at up to 2 meters under the ground. If they freeze then they will die.
The gestation period for earthworms varies. A young worm can hatch anywhere from 3 weeks to 5 months, depending on the type of worm it is and how good the soil and temperature are.
They are able to create between 3 and 80 cocoons per year. For the most part, however, only a couple of young worms will come out of the cocoons.
Some earthworms are able to live from 4-8 years. In ideal conditions where there are no predators, some earthworms are even able to live up to 10 years.
Some common predators of the earthworm are toads, slugs, snakes, flatworms, leeches, moles, centipedes, and birds.
The head of the earthworm is always at the end of the worm that is the closest to the clitellum. Although they are able to move both forwards and backwards, they usually prefer moving forwards.
Earthworms eat by swallowing soil and the nutrients from it. They also have strong mouth muscles since they do not possess any teeth.