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  • [Intro]

  • You know, Squeaks and I spend a lot of time underground.

  • And that means we've made a bunch of squirmy little friends.

  • If you've spent any time digging in the ground, you've certainly met them, too.

  • I'm talking about earthworms!

  • These animals are super cool, and super hardworking, too!

  • Let's see if we can get the dirt on these wiggly worms.

  • First of all, even though you often find earthworms outside, where you find insects like ants

  • and beetles, earthworms aren't insects.

  • Can you spot the differences?

  • Remember what makes an insect: six legs, three main body parts, and a hard exoskeleton.

  • Our earthworm doesn't match that at all!

  • Earthworms have smooth skin and a body made up of many small segmentsit kind of looks

  • like they're covered in a lot of little rings.

  • And each segment has small hairs that are almost too tiny to see.

  • And even though they're long and skinny like snakes, they're not snakes!

  • Snakes have a skeleton, and earthworms don't.

  • But they do have strong muscles.

  • In order to move, the earthworm squeezes its muscles together, which makes its body thinner

  • and longer.

  • Then the earthworm uses those little hairs on its body to hold on to the soil around

  • it, and pull itself forward.

  • Have you ever seen a bird trying to pull an earthworm out of the ground?

  • The worm can make it hard for the bird, because it can actually hang on to the dirt with those

  • tiny little hairs!

  • Now, just like most animals, earthworms have a front end and a back end.

  • Up front, you'll find their mouth and a teeny tiny brain, about the size of a pinhead.

  • But that little brain gets the job done.

  • Earthworms are able to sense light and vibrations--so they know when to wiggle away!

  • And when earthworms needs to wiggle away, where do they go?

  • That's right--underground.

  • Earthworms spend most of their time safe in underground tunnels called burrows.

  • It not only keeps them hidden from predators, but that nice, wet soil keeps their skin moist.

  • And that's super important.

  • Because earthworms need to breathe just like people do, but they don't do it in the same

  • way.

  • They actually absorb oxygen through their skin.

  • And in order to do that, they need to keep wet.

  • That's why you're most likely to see earthworms when you're digging through damp soil or

  • mud!

  • But maybe you've seen earthworms even when you haven't been making mud pies.

  • Have you ever seen them hanging around on the sidewalk after a rainstorm?

  • A rainy day for an earthworm is a perfect moving day.

  • Sometimes one area becomes too crowded with earthworms, so they need to find a new home.

  • But they need to keep their skin moist while they're out moving around.

  • So earthworms use those soggy days to come out and look for a new place to live.

  • Then back into the ground they go!

  • But the dirt isn't just a safe place for worms to hide, it's also their food.

  • As an earthworm moves through the soil, it's also is eating the dirt!

  • Earthworms get their nutrients from dead and decaying parts of plants, like leaves and

  • roots, that are in the soil.

  • And earthworms are hungry.

  • They can eat half their bodyweight in just one day!

  • But maybe the coolest thing about earthworms?

  • As they munch through the soil, they actually make the soil better for the rest of us.

  • How do they do that?

  • Well, the tiny tunnels that earthworms make as they wiggle through the dirt help bring

  • water and air deep into the ground.

  • And that makes it easier for other living things -- like plants and fungus -- to live

  • in it.

  • Plus, as earthworms break down all of those dead plant parts, they help spread around

  • all of the nutrients that are in them, to make food for new things to grow.

  • Some people even keep earthworms in their garden on purpose!

  • They feed the earthworms things like banana peels and apple cores.

  • Then, the worms turn those scraps into compost -- a rich, smelly, nutritious kind of plant

  • food made fromdead plants!

  • To you, it might just look like trash, but to an earthworm?

  • It's treasure!

  • Healthy earthworms means healthy soil!

  • And healthy soil means healthy people--because we need it to grow plants for our own food!

  • So the next time you come across an earthworm--thank them!

  • They're hard at work helping flowers, trees, grass, and plants grow.

  • And thanks to you for joining us here at SciShow Kids!

  • If there's anything that you'd like to learn more about, ask your parents to help

  • you email us at kids@thescishow.com, and we'll see you next time!

[Intro]

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