There are 4,400 species of worms - 2,700 different kinds of earthworms to be exact. It's
hard to image something more interesting than watching an earthworm give birth or seeing his five
hearts beat. So check this out!
Birth Video
Want to see something cute? Watch the amazing footage of a baby worm being hatched from a
cocoon smaller than a grain of rice.
Click here
Heartbeat Video
Did you know a worm has FIVE hearts? Now that's something to see.
Click here
Body Parts
Wendell the Worm, Ace Reporter here with the inside story on the great creatures known as
worms. Let's follow a leaf through my body to see how I eat and digest it. Earthworms have mouths,
we can even open them wide to fit leaves and other good things. But we don't have teeth! Here is
what happend to my lunch:
Pharynx: I push my pharynx or throat out of my mouth to grab leaves and to pull them
back into my mouth. Then I get them nice and wet with my saliva.
Esophagus: Once I have my food good and wet, I push it down my esophagus, then onto my crop.
Crop: My crop is a storage compartment for my food and other things I swallow. From the
crop, my lunch goppes to my gizzard.
Gizzard: My gizzard is where the work happens. I use any stones that I've swallowed and
the strong muscles of my gizzard to grind up the leaves. These muscles work almost like teeth.
Intestine: Once I have the leaves all ground up they move to my intestine where the
digestive juices break them down even more.
Bloodstream: Now that the leaf is all digested, some of it will pass into my bloodstream.
Anus: Whatever is leftover comes out my anus as castings or worm poop.
Don't forget to visit my buddy Eddie Earthworm for more information
on earthworms. And, hey, if you want to learn about other kinds of worms, don't forget to visit my
cousins. And tell them Wendell sent you!
|
Inside an Earthworm
|
