Researchers have found that they can communicate with each other using touch and taste. They can feel vibrations in the soil so they can avoid predators. There's even evidence to suggest that they like to travel in herds and follow a leader. Now, that would make for one serious wormhole!
During mating, two worms line up inverted from each other so sperm can be exchanged. The earthworms each have two male openings and two sperm receptacles, which take in the sperm from another mate. The earthworms have a pair of ovaries that produce eggs.
Earthworms only communicate with each other by touch and taste, but they can feel vibrations, and often avoid predators by sensing their footsteps. They can also sense light and moisture in the air.
Most people already know that worms are hermaphrodites. This means that they have both male and female reproductive organs. However, they cannot reproduce alone. They must pair with another worm for successful reproduction to occur.
The common earthworm has both male and female reproductive parts. To reproduce, two worms come together to exchange sperm. Each worm deposits its own eggs and the donated sperm into a gooey cocoon that it leaves in the soil.
Almost all worms can regrow their tails if they are amputated, and many earthworms can lose several segments from their head end and they will grow back, the Washington Post reports. For some worms, however, the more segments that are cut off, the less likely they are to be fully regenerated.
If an annelid is cut in two, they can regenerate to some degree, and in some species you can even end up with two worms. The common earthworm, however, will only regenerate from the tail end; the head end always dies.
But animals with simple nervous systems, like lobsters, snails and worms, do not have the ability to process emotional information and therefore do not experience suffering, say most researchers. "There are two types of animals, invertebrates and vertebrates," said Craig W.
A web site for fans of earthworms tackled the question recently: Yes, it is now accepted that worms feel pain – and that includes when they are cut in half. They do not anticipate pain or feel pain as an emotional response, however. They simply move in response to pain as a reflex response.
Worms are hermaphrodites. Each worm has both male and female organs. Worms mate by joining their clitella (swollen area near the head of a mature worm) and exchanging sperm. Then each worm forms an egg capsule in its clitellum.
Earthworms form herds and make "group decisions", scientists have discovered. The earthworms use touch to communicate and influence each other's behaviour, according to research published in the journal Ethology.
According to new research studying neurons within microscopic roundworms, the answer is an emphatic 'yes'. They found that worms would choose to respond to a nearby odour depending on what they were 'thinking' about - suggesting they have free will just like humans.
Can worms feel emotions? But animals with simple nervous systems, like lobsters, snails and worms, do not have the ability to process emotional information and therefore do not experience suffering, say most researchers.
Earthworms are safe and fun to touch, as this Discovery Garden visitor proves.
Earthworms are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning worms have both male and female reproductive organs. During sexual intercourse among earthworms, both sets of sex organs are used by both worms. If all goes well, the eggs of both of the mates become fertilized.
But only the half with the saddle (which the worm needs for reproduction) survives. The other half keeps moving because the nerve endings take a while to stop firing.
The worms have two types of auditory sensory neurons that are tightly connected to the worms' skin. When sound waves bump into the worms' skin, they vibrate the skin, which in turn may cause the fluid inside the worm to vibrate in the same way that fluid vibrates in a cochlea.
No, not really. Instead, they have cells called receptors that can sense whether it's light or dark. This allows worms to tell if they're underground or above ground.
"We show that worms exhibit environmental familiarisation, and that this memory persists for at least 14 days -- long enough for the brain to regenerate," write the authors.
Further research showed that the signaling pathways activated during the worms' response are similar to the pathways activated when more complex animals experience fear.
Think about earthworms: They're hermaphrodites, but it still takes two, because of the way the sex works, they're not self-fertile.” Other organisms display sequential hermaphroditism, she said. Oysters and other shellfish change from male to female as they age.
The first 23 segments are roughly the limit for partial head regeneration by the cut-off tail. A loss of more than that might result in tail segments at both ends — and a dead end for the worm.
Although worms can't survive freezing temperatures, they lay eggs that are encased and protected by very small cocoons. They can survive through winter to emerge as tiny baby worms, once temperatures warm up again.
An earthworm's lifespan depends on its environment. Those with a wholesome country lifestyle can live up to eight years, but those in city gardens generally last 1-2 years. They often die from changes in the soil (drying or flooding), disease or predators such as birds, snakes, small animals and large insects.