Earthworm

The earthworm is a long, soft animal that lives in soil. It has no eyes, no legs and no bones, and is widely considered to be getting on fine.^[1]

An earthworm finds its way underground by knowing where the soil is not. Every space it moves into is, by definition, no longer full of soil, which confirms to the worm that it was right to go there.

Anatomy

An earthworm has a front end and a back end. These are hard to tell apart, and zoologists believe the worm itself decides only once it starts moving. The end that arrives first is called the front, a definition that has so far never been proved wrong.^[2]

Earthworms breathe through their skin, which must stay moist. This makes the earthworm one of the few animals for which drying off properly after a bath would be a serious mistake.

Rain

Earthworms come to the surface after rain. Several explanations have been proposed, including breathing, travel and the drumming of raindrops. A 1988 paper suggested that they simply wanted to see it, but was rejected by reviewers for being too relatable.^[3]

Work

A single earthworm can move a large amount of soil in its lifetime, enough, over the generations, to build a small hill. The earthworm will never see the hill, having no eyes, and would not take credit for it, having no ego.

See also

• Rain – the main event
• Hill – earthworm-assisted
• Puddle – where to meet them afterwards

References

1. Wriggle, E. (1992). Which End? Loam Books. p. 1.
2. Burrow, D. (1988). “They Just Wanted to See It”. Rejected.
3. Topsoil, S. (2004). Underneath Everything. Mulch Press.