The Book of the Earthworm by Sally Coulthard

The Book of the Earthworm by Sally Coulthard

Author:Sally Coulthard [Coulthard, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781789544749
Publisher: Head of Zeus


Using the data from the study – which measured earthworms ranging in size from a minuscule 0.2 grams to a healthy 8 grams – it has been calculated that the Common earthworm travels at the following speeds, depending on its relative size:

• Tiny earthworms can crawl about 12 centimetres per minute or 7.2 metres per hour.

• Medium-sized earthworms can crawl about 90 centimetres per minute or 54 metres per hour.

• Large earthworms can crawl about 1.2 metres per minute or 72 metres per hour.

In effect, larger Common earthworms can travel ten times faster than the smaller ones. Whether earthworms do actually travel at these speeds consistently when they’re underground, we don’t know. The texture and composition of the soil, for instance, radically affects how fast earthworms can burrow – it can take deep-burrowing worms four or five times longer to move through clay than light loam.

What we do know, however, is that earthworms can move really fast if they want to. Earthworms have superfast nerve impulses, which can race down the entire length of their body at speeds as high as 600 metres per second. Touch an earthworm when it’s poking its head out of the soil and it’ll retreat, quick as a flash.



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