Worms

I've been reading about earthworms the past few days. I did not know that there were GIANT earthworms. In the Palouse region of Washington State, there can be found a giant earthworm, or, I should say, they found a giant earthworm, as one hasn't been seen in over twenty years. They are pinkish white, reach two feet or so and excrete a milky white fluid that smells like lilies. Huh. Who knew? Not me.
I did know that earthworms had amazing regenerative abilities, in that when a worm has been severed, perhaps by a shovel, it can regrow its missing segments. I didn't know that if two earthworms were sutured together, side-by-side, by enthusiastic researchers, they could grow together and function normally.
I also didn't know that earthworms could absorb high accumulations of PCBs, without apparent harmful effects to the worm ( yes, the robin dies but why doesn't the worm?) and where there are earthworms, PCBs in the soil break down.
Worms also have enough sense, when bringing leaves down into their burrows, to turn the leaf the right way round, so the narrow end, with the stem, gets dragged in first.

So hurray for worms.

Seagull


Yep, I realize that this isn't an earthworm but it's what I saw when I was coming back on the ferry today.