Fun Facts in Our e-Book
DID YOU KNOW?
Fossil records show that earthworm-like creatures have been around for about a billion years and survived the extinction of the dinosaurs
65 million years ago. Since they have no bones, earthworm fossils are rare but they do exist.
DID YOU KNOW:
The Greek philosopher Aristotle called earthworms “the intestines of the earth”.
DID YOU KNOW?
Earthworms are one of the oldest creatures on earth. Ancient civilizations knew the value of worms. Removing earthworms from ancient Egypt was a crime punishable by death. The Roman emperor Mark Antony came to Egypt to broker a deal with Cleopatra about feeding his army with the grain that was grown in the rich Nile Delta.
Recent studies show it’s not the flooding of the Nile River, but the earthworms that make the Nile Valley so rich.
DID YOU KNOW?
Charles Darwin studied worms for 39 years and concluded that: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Worms are the second oldest organism on the planet and have remained unchanged for 500 million years. They are the only land animal that can regenerate. If cut in half, they can make two worms, but they will be sterile. Worms have five hearts, and they move through the earth with microscopic hairs that act like grappling hooks called setae.
They are nature’s excavators. They have light sensitive cells on their skin that respond to light and vibration.
DID YOU KNOW?
Worms were wiped out in North America during the last Ice Age, but were introduced to North America by settlers from Europe who carried plants from their native land that contained earthworms.
DID YOU KNOW?
Worm range in size from microscopic to 16 feet in the Amazon and the Giant Gippsland worm of Australia is 8-9 feet.
One worm found in Africa was 22 feet long.
DID YOU KNOW?
Why are some worms called night crawlers? They are often called night crawlers because they are often seen feeding above ground at night.
Said to be shy of the light, they burrow during the day and stay close to the surface, but they can dig down in the soil as deep as 6.5 feet.
DID YOU KNOW?
Earthworms are the building blocks to every living thing, including us.
Without earthworms, the planet would look like the moon, barren with no sign of life.
