...the fall migration commences...did you know they live seven years on average? ....diplopoda
They are so large, I can see them walking across the road. I drive around them. They are beneficial to the environment. They are detritivores...and a good help in the compost pile.
The word 'milli' is latin meaning thousand and 'pede' meaning foot. I don't think this one has a thousand feet...I suppose I could count them... if I were still a child I would, but there are grown up things that need doing today....
thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine...
10 comments:
Your photography is amazing...the way you capture the animals. Are you a professional?
I know they are beneficial, but ick those are huge! We had the smaller black cousins when we lived in Greece. I have memories of living in a damp house and finding them in my gloves and shoes. The smell of a squished one is kind of awful.
I have never seen one that large. And let me tell you, if I find one in the basement bathroom, its seven years is cut short!
Nice pictures.
I learned in an entomology class a million years ago that they expire cyanide gas. I held one in my hand and it tickled.
That one is kind of pretty but they really give me the willies. Thanks to Manise, I now know that they smell badly squished. I always move them, so I didn't know.
The things I learn reading blogs!
Ugh...sorry but that one gives me nightmares. I think I saw too many horror movies when I was a kid. lol
Amazing, can't imagine millipedes so big you can see them when you drive!!
Funny thing is, we have been inundated by millipedes here too, only they are smaller!
tee hee... I can hear those numbers still echoing through the internet. Great photos.
I have seen an inordinate amount of them this year. The chickens want no part of them...neither do I.
Guess I'm in a minority here. In the first picture it's stunningly beautiful - like a seashell. What artistry: the colors, the symmetry! I've never seen one so big. 78, 79... well, that's how many legs I count on the one side in the third picture. Yeah, I'd have stopped and counted. (blushing)
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