The earthworm

📖 In short

The earthworm is a long, soft animal with no legs or eyes that lives in damp soil all over the world. You might think it's a simple animal, but it's one of the best friends of farmers and gardens!

🤩 Did you know?

Baby earthworms hatch from a little cocoon after a few weeks.
An earthworm can sense light with its skin, even though it has no eyes.
Thousands of earthworms can live in a small garden.
In Arabic, the earthworm is also called “khurtun”.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 A little plough

As it moves, an earthworm digs tunnels in the soil, so air and water get deep down and reach plant roots easily.

🔍 It makes fertilizer

A worm eats soil and dead leaves, then leaves behind droppings full of nutrients that make the soil rich, so plants grow strong.

💡 How does it move without legs?

A worm's body is made of many rings, each with tiny bristles. The worm stretches out its body, then squeezes it up, gripping the soil with its bristles, and crawls forward.

🎯 Why does it come out after rain?

A worm breathes through its skin, which must stay damp. After heavy rain its tunnels fill with water, so it comes up to the surface. And it hates hot sun, which dries out its skin.

📸 More pictures

🧩 Test yourself

1 How does an earthworm breathe?

2 How does an earthworm help plants?

3 Which picture shows “The earthworm”?

🦁 Discover more

📷 Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons

Rob Hille · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wikimedia Commons · GFDL 1.2