Science Saturday: Earthworms & Toads

(A worm T-Tot found last year :~D )

A few possibly interesting things about these 2 unique animals:

• An adult Earthworm can be up to 11in long with 100-200 body segments. Each body segment has 4 pairs of bristle like structures called setae.(Setae is from the Latin word Setis, meaning brushes. I just looked it up for the sake of curiosity). The setae are used to cling to the walls of the burrows.
• Their predators include woodcocks, toads, frogs, snakes, turtles, skunks, some slugs, some beetles, centipedes, shrews and moles. They happen to be very useful for fishing, too.
• Earthworms eat a LOT of soil. If they can't burrow through, they eat it. In their digestive system the dirt is ground up into finer particles, while the nutrients are absorbed.
• Toads hibernate in the winter. They bury themselves deep into the earth. The rest of the year is spent in hiding from predators who may think toads would make a tasty snack.
• They have a mottled skin which gives them the ability to blend in with the ground. If someone thinks they are tasty, Toads can not jump far away, but they can jump away and startle the predator. If that fails and they are in the mouth of their predator, then they are able to emit a poisonous substance which makes them taste REALLY bad. 
• Mostly their predators include snakes, hawks, owls, crows, and skunks.