Charles Darwin & His Worms   

Originally a geology student, Charles Darwin ended up spending a lot of time studying earthworms. In his day, worms were seen as nothing but pests, but he was fascinated. Through a series of experiments, that
lasted over three decades, he discovered worms literally move the earth.

It’s estimated that, over the course of a year, on only one acre, earthworms move eight tons of earth. That would be a full load for the average dump truck, give or take.

But they don’t just move, aerate and overturn the soil, they make make more of it. About two inches worth a year. They leave their nitrogen, phosphorous and calcium rich castings (poop) up on the surface, causing the previous surface to slowly submerge. They keep doing it, and it keeps mixing down, in a constant ever-moving renewal.

Earthworms are incredibly ancient. They first appeared half a BILLION – with a B – years ago. They were part of the “Cambrian Explosion,” a brief period when all the major animal groups first appeared. Of course, having no bones, worms don’t leave a lot of fossils. But in rare instances of unusual preservation, they have been found. Most of the worms from that time, naturally, are extinct. But, amazingly, there is one still alive today.

This means worms, and their long line of ancestors, really are the original movers and shakers!

But that’s just the beginning.

Flimsy, boneless little worms are surprisingly strong. They have to be. In order to be able to move through the dirt, they need to forcefully enlarge tiny gaps and crevices. This is a lot of weight to push against. But full grown worms can push ten times their own weight.  Baby earthworms are even stronger. They can push five hundred times their own weight.

Being totally voracious, they eat…and poop…their own weight, everyday. That doesn’t sound like much, seeing as they aren’t that big. But in that same one acre of land, assuming it has relatively healthy soil,
there can be more than a million earthworms.

With that much strength and that much eating and pooping, in those kinds of numbers, it’s no wonder they are such incredible earth-movers. It just goes to show how the power of small actions done over and over can change the world.

Worms don’t have eyes, but can sense light.  They need to move away from it. Because if exposed to light for more than an hour or so they will become paralyzed. And, if their skin dries out, they will die.

They sense sound vibrations, too, without having ears. Darwin discovered this by putting them in a pot of soil on his piano. There is a strong evolutionary imperative to avoid the vibrations of underground
predators, like moles.

They also have intelligence without much of a brain. Darwin suspected as much. He did an experiment with paper triangles expecting the worms to pull them from the points, which would be the easiest, into their burrows, and that’s just what they did.

More recently, scientists put a worm brain into a lego robot. And it worked. Actually, they simulated the
connections between C. elegans’ 302 neurons into software that was uploaded into a toy robot. And without any other extra programming, the lego robot behaved in ways similar to the worm. 302 neurons is not a lot. They can’t use them to solve algebraic equations, but so what?

Actually, most worms can be said to have two brains. They have two cerebral ganglia, which are connected all throughout their bodies—organs, skin & muscles. You could say their two brains are their body.  Or, their body is their double brain. Or…they are all brain. A long, skinny bundle of sense perception eating their way through the Divine Substance!

But I wax poetic…

Motor and sensory signals run through nerve bundles throughout the body. These, obviously, enable responses to the environment and maintain bodily functions like circulation, digestion, respiration, heart rate, temperature regulation, pain response, etc.  Same as for everybody.

Their nervous system is also attached to sensitive chemo-receptors on their skin. With these they are either attracted to or repulsed by substances they encounter. This tells them to move toward or away,
as need be.

So, no. They’re not rocket scientists. But, unlike rocket scientists, they’re actually necessary to the formation and continued existence of Life on this planet. Upon reflection, it seems that instead of saying worms have intelligence, it’s probably more accurate to say they are intelligence.  One of many extensions of the Intelligence we know as Life. There’s a lot more to them than you might expect and they deserve our respect.

What Can We Learn from Worms?

A lot, as it turns out. Human cultures across the world find great symbolic meaning in the lowly worm. Humility, for one thing. When we can get over our human arrogance, we become better versions of ourselves. Staying grounded and keeping our connection with reality. No holy wars or delusions of grandeur with these critters!

Worms also demonstrate the enormous, tactile power of intuition. Intuition is not some weak willed, wishy washy thing to disregard. It is powerful. Look at them! They have no eyes, ears, arms or legs. All they have is their inner knowing and persistence. All they do is trust and follow their sense perceptions. And they, literally, move the earth. We would do well to incorporate more of that into our frenzied, stress-filled lives.
Compulsive over thinking is bad for our sanity, both individually and collectively.

In many cultures worms are seen as symbols of spiritual enlightenment. Their place in the life cycle, turning dead matter into living soil and, by extension, new life is not a made up fairy tale. It’s Real. We’d probably be a lot healthier and happier by grounding our beliefs about the life, death & rebirth cycles in something tangible, alive today, and available to observe everywhere.

Worms Are Great!

Charles Darwin was right to be fascinated by worms. As both a geologist and a deeply religious person, he must have unconsciously (or consciously) seen them, somehow, as the embodiment of the Divine
Mind, alive and moving through the dirt. Or something along those lines. And I have to wonder. Are worms what caused him to abandon geology and pursue, instead, his study of the Origins of Life? If
so, the humble earthworm has certainly moved a lot more than dirt.

(I’m not saying that’s what happened. I’m just wondering…)

 

PS  I love worms so much, I even write poetry about them!

The Secret Life of Soil Organisms – Part 1

---

---

Wanna grow your own wormies?