| Today I thought we'd take a break from carnivorous creatures and focus on something herbivorous: millipedes. Actually, to be completely accurate they're detrivores, which means they eat detritus (what accumulates on the forest floor.) Now, at first that may seem a little gross. Who knows what there is disintegrating under that seemingly harmless layer of dead leaves? Well, the truth of the matter is that you'll probably never know thanks to these handy little critters. They can be compared to the familiar earthworm. They perform much of the same duties as an earthworm, but amazingly convert much more of the dead leaf litter and other things into soil than a worm. As you can probably guess, millipedes like dark, moist environments. Unless they stay moist, millipedes will dessicate (dry out.) So uh... how do you identify a millipede? Or, even better, how is a millipede different from a centipede? Generally millipedes have many more legs than a centipede. An easy way to remember this is that "milli "means million, and "pede" means foot. "Centi" means hundred. So quite literally they are the million foots and the hundred foots, although neither one ever has that many legs. :) Also, centipedes are very fast and move similarly to a snake, while millipedes plod along slowly. One reason to know the difference between them in your head is to realize that centipedes have fangs and venom to capture live prey, and may not hesitate to bite if threatened or under the impression that your finger is food. Some of the larger centipedes have strong, painful venom as well, so it is best to leave them alone. Millipedes, however, are perfectly harmless. In the pictures on the side, the first two images are of millipedes, but the last one is of a centipede. You can see how fast the centipede is moving by the blurring of the legs. Just don't eat millipedes. ;) Their only method of defense is a type of poison they exude from pores in their sides. If not ingested, the worst it will do is leave a brown stain on your hand for a few days. So there you go... that's what millipedes are and how to identify them! I hope this was helpful to some of you that may have been confused about the difference between millipedes and centipedes. (Or just plain interesting if you had never wondered before now!) |