Contest Alert | Animal Activities #09 |

Hello friends welcome to my blog.

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Let's talk about Earthwormtoday,, a small creature that plays an important role in the maintaining of a healthy ecosystem It belongs to the Order of Opisthopora and the family of Lumbricus

An earthworm is an animal mainly found in the wet soil of the forest, grassland, woodland, and shrubland. It has a head, a swollen section of the body called the clitellum, and a tail. Its body is long and cylindrical, divided into segments and bluntly tapered at each end. An earthworm has both male and female reproductive organs (hermaphrodite). Two worms exchange sperm during the mating period; the clitellum produces a cocoon where the eggs are kept and protected until they hatch into juvenile worms.

Earthworms are invertebrate animals that do not have a backbone. Respiration takes place through its moist skin as it absorbs dissolved oxygen from the moist soil; they are detritivores that feed on decomposing organic matter from dead plant materials. Its food is absorbed into the food canal and broken down in the gizzard and intestine. It drills its way into the soil with the help of its head.

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An earthworm makes the plant rich by dragging dead leaves down into the soil and breaking them. As an earthworm digs, it swallows chunks of soil. Most times, the soil contains a lot of dead matter and it excreats worm casts. The earthworm can eat this plant matter, and what it leaves behind is mostly very good soil for growing plants. The worm cast is rich in organic matter that is like manure. A soil without a worm cast is poor soil and not favourable for planting.

Earthworms are unique animals that can live for several years if in a suitable environment, and depending on their shape, it has light sensitivity and prefer the dark; they regenerate some of their body parts but not when they are into two parts.

Ecology Importance

• An earthworm is the farmer's friend because it improves the soil and makes the plant grow well, they make water circulate in the soil through their burrowing activities

• They are a source of protein for animals and local chickens that feed on them.

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• An earthworm aerates the soil, making air available to the soil by making openings or burrowing into the soil; this air enhances plant growth.

Threats

• Chemical introduction and pollutants in an environment can harm or reduce the population of earthworms in that area.

• Harmful species can disrupt the local ecosystem and outcompete the native earthworm that is beneficial.

• Continued agricultural practices can affect the soil, leading to soil degradation and displacing them of their habitat.

Earthworm plays a vital role in recycling nutrients in the soil, making them a useful animal in agriculture.

I invite @abisolami, @rossnenye and @bela90 to participate in this contest.