Often, after a rain, on the not yet dry asphalt, on a damp bed in a vegetable garden or in a garden, you can see a crawling earthworm. Why it is, in fact, rain, the question does not arise, but how the worm moves, not everyone can intelligibly explain.
Instructions
Step 1
A bit of biology
The way a worm moves from one place to another is by crawling. The earthworm can move in the soil, as on any other surface, thanks to its annelid structure and well-developed strong muscles, consisting of longitudinal and annular muscles. In worms, the muscles, together with the skin, are a continuous musculocutaneous sac. The longitudinal muscles help the body of the worm to become thicker, while the contraction of the annular muscles makes it long and thin. So, alternating contractions of both types of muscles, the worm carries out the process of movement.
Step 2
Interesting but true
Have you ever noticed that there are special bristles on the inner ventral side of the smooth body of an earthworm? With their help, the invertebrate clings to various roughnesses, after which the muscles contract and the body is pulled forward. They also help to climb and descend along the already done earthen passages. If you put a worm on a piece of paper, as soon as it starts to move, you can hear the rustling of the bristles on the paper, and you can feel them by running a wet finger from below along the abdomen of the animal.
Step 3
Does he eat the earth
The food for the worms is rotting fallen leaves, grass and other plant debris trapped in the ground. Moving forward, the worm swallows small portions of the earth, processes it, and then throws out unnecessary waste from the body, thereby fertilizing the soil, loosening it and enriching it with oxygen. This is where the bizarre earthy "ropes" and lumps come from on the surface. In softer layers, the worm pushes the earth apart with the pointed end of the body, and then squeezes forward between its particles.
Step 4
He is so comfortable
Nature is so arranged that the worm breathes with the entire surface of its body, but for this its skin must be constantly moist, which ensures the presence of mucus. The behavior of the worm after rain can be explained by the fact that there is not enough oxygen for breathing in too humid ground, so you have to crawl out to the surface. Most often, you can meet with him in wet weather or in the evening, the sun's rays are destructive for the worm, as his skin dries up.
Step 5
Such small and sometimes invisible to others, earthworms, it turns out, are not only insanely interesting, but also very useful. After all, each of them in a year can "shovel" up to 16 tons of soil, enriching it with nutrients.
