Super Eco

Photo credit: bunchofpants, flickr

Oh, wait. They already do. A testimony to the weird and wonderful world of global biodiversity, these giant earthworms are giving people the shivers in Australia and in the Amazon, two places where we already expect a high degree of interestingness where animal life is concerned.

In 7th grade, sorry to say, I dissected an earthworm. It was about 8 inches long, which was really quite bigger than I require in an earthworm. These biosteroidal guys? Are about TWENTY-TWO FEET long. Imagine finding one of those in your bed. Here's a quote about them you might like: "They can sometimes be heard in their habitat making gurgling sounds as they move underground."

Okay. Moving on.

Other Really Big Species you might like:

• Giant starfish near New Zealand.
• Remnants of giant bird poo, also in New Zealand. We're assuming that a giant bird was somehow involved.
• Giant octopi, populating bad dreams everywhere.
• Giant squid, also in New Zealand. Anyone notice a trend here?
• Amazonian giant peccary. And a peccary is a ... quick! Bird? Fish? Something furry? Quick, before it eats you!
• Giant fairy shrimp. Ahem. From, uh, Idaho. (Idaho?)
• Giant elephant shrew. Presently in Philadelphia, because that's where all the best giant elephant shrews are found.
• Giant lobster. From Madagascar. Anyone else thinking about butter now? (These babies would eat YOU before you got them into a pot.)
• Galapagos giant tortoise. Clearly intended as the predecessor to the riding mower.

We sure live in a wonderful world, don't we? Let's keep it that way and do what we can to conserve the amazing diversity on the planet. Many giant species, like the giant earthworms, are in a threatened status.