(c) Anthony K. Grafton 2003

Dining with Worms

“What do worms eat?”

Andrew Summers, age 5

Lebanon, KY

Thank you for your question Andrew. There are almost 3,000 different kinds of earthworms, and they come in many different sizes, but most of them eat pretty much the same things: dead things and garbage.

Worms are nature’s recyclers. They eat small bits of dead leaves, stems, and other parts of fallen plants as well as just about anything else that dies in or on the ground. Hundreds of thousands of earthworms can live in a relatively small patch of ground, and as a group they can process a remarkable amount of matter (many tons over a single year in an area the size the yard around your house). Over two thousand years ago the philosopher Aristotle described earthworms as the “intestines of the earth”.

Some people raise worms on small farms and feed them scraps from the dinner table. Why would anyone want to raise worms? Well, because worms like to eat dead plants and other things, they help break down the material they eat into substances that fertilize living plants. After worms have digested their meals, they leave behind excrement called “castings”, and this waste is a wonderful fertilizer in much the same way that cow manure is beneficial. People who raise gardens love to have plenty of earthworms around to help their plants grow by processing and breaking up the soil.

Worms themselves serve as food to a wide variety of other animals. Many birds love to snack on worms, as do moles, shrews, and some other small creatures. And many fishermen , of course, like to use earthworms as bait.

Did you know that some species of worms in South America can grow several feet long and weigh as much as a pound? How big do the worms grow where you live?