The giant Gippsland earthworm, Megascolides australis, is one of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's 1,000 native earthworm

Earthworm

Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

. These Giant earthworms average 1 meter (3 feet) long and 2 cm (1 inch) in diameter

Diameter

In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...

 and can reach 3 m in length. They have a dark purple head and a blue-grey body.

They live in the subsoil

Subsoil

Subsoil, or substrata, is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. The subsoil may include substances such as clay and/or sand that has only been partially broken down by air, sunlight, water, wind etc., to produce true soil...

 of blue, grey or red clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

 soils along stream banks and some south or west facing hills of their remaining habitat

Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...

 which is in Gippsland

Gippsland

Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...

 in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia.

These worms live in deep burrow

Burrow

A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...

 systems and require water in their environment to respire

Respiration (physiology)

'In physiology, respiration is defined as the transport of oxygen from the outside air to the cells within tissues, and the transport of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction...

. These worms rarely leave their moist burrows. They have relatively long life spans

Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...

 for invertebrate

Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...

s and can take 5 years to reach maturity. They breed in the warmer months and produce large egg

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

 cocoons which are laid in their burrows. When these worms hatch in 12 months they are already 20 cm long.

They can sometimes be heard in their habitat making gurgling sounds as they move underground.

Located near the town of Bass

Bass, Victoria

Bass is a small rural town 113 kilometres  south-east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland and Bass Highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia...

 is the Giant Earthworm Museum. This building allows tourists to crawl through a magnified replica of a worm burrow and a simulated worm's stomach. Displays and educational material on the Giant Gippsland earthworm and other natural history of Gippsland are featured.

Threatened status

As with many of Australia’s native species, European colonisation

History of Australia

The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by boat from the Indonesian archipelago between 40,000 to...

 has resulted in the decline of the Giant Gippsland earthworm and they are now a protected species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

.
Some farmers in the area have stopped raising cattle and have begun planting crops. When the farmers till the ground many of the worms are severed, and some scientists believe that worms are killed as a result of the tilling. Thus, the giant earthworm is in danger of becoming extinct.

See also

• Giant Palouse earthworm
  Giant Palouse earthworm
  The giant Palouse earthworm or Washington giant earthworm is a species of earthworm belonging to the genus Driloleirus found in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington state as well as parts of Idaho in the United States. The worm was discovered in 1897 by Frank Smith near Pullman, Washington...
  
   - A vulnerable North American species.
• Oregon giant earthworm
  Oregon giant earthworm
  The Oregon giant earthworm is a species of invertebrate in the Megascolecidae family. This worm was first discovered in 1937, when a live specimen was unearthed in Salem...
  
   - A relative of the Palouse earthworm. Specimens have been recorded at 1.3 m (4 feet) long.
• Lake Pedder earthworm
  Lake Pedder earthworm
  The Lake Pedder Earthworm was an earthworm species in the family Megascolecidae. Its genus Hypolimnus is monotypic....
  
   - Listed as the first "extinct" worm species from its original unique Tasmanian habitat.
• Lumbricus badensis‎ - Giant (Badish) earthworm.
• Microchaetus rappi
  Microchaetus rappi
  Microchaetus rappi is an earthworm in the Microchaetidae family. It is very large, the largest on record being 22 feet long....
  
   - Giant South African earthworm.

External links

• Giant Gippsland Earthworm at the Museum Victoria
  Museum Victoria
  Museum Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; these are: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facility in Melbourne's City of Moreland.Museum...
  
  website