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Susan Gowans, Age 11, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for her question:

Where do earthworms go in winter?

Right now, the earthworms of Canada are comfortably coiled in their deep burrows. Here and there, two or three of them may share a cozy little bedroom, six or seven or maybe eight feet below the frost and snow. T ?hen winter comes, they cannot. carry on their wondrous work in the hard, frozen ground. So down they go to rest below the frost until spring weather thaws and moistens the soil.

Mr. Pinky, the earthworm, is much admired by naturalists and by all those who re¬spect the precious soil of the earth. For such a busy creature, he seems sadly helpless. He cannot survive in the dry, cold air of winter or the hot, dry air of summer because his tender, naked skin must be kept moist at all times. He has no way to defend him¬self and above ground he is at the mercy of robins and other hungry enemies. Hence, he must spend most of his life in his underground burrow. However, he has no claws to dig it and no legs to crawl into it.

Nevertheless, nature provides ways for him to solve all his .problems and, barring accidents, he lives very comfortably through several summers and winters. In fact, earthworm survival is so successful that thousands of Mr. Pinky's relatives can thrive in every acre of healthy soil. And as they go peaceably about their everyday business, they make it possible for the plant world to survive.

Their astounding agricultural duties are performed in spring and fall and in months when the summer is not unbearably hot and dry. Their burrows let air and rain water seep down to nourish plant roots. In moist soil, they dig by pushing aside the loose crumbs. In harder ground they eat the dirt as they dig, digest the edible scraps of organic material and eliminate the indigestible stuff in little coils called worm castings. During the busy season, worms bring millions of tons of mineral rich soil to the surface.

A famous naturalist called them nature's plowmen    and wondered how the plant and animal world could survive without them. However, we must manage without them when win¬ter freezes their ground solid. Then every little Pinky retires from duty. He plugs his door to seal out the howling winds and seeping snows    and burrows down below the frost, maybe eight feet. There he scoops out a small chamber and lines the walls with mucus. He also may pad his winter nest with scraps of old leaves, fragments of bird feathers and other comfortable debris. Then it's time to coil up and wait for the first breath of spring.

In mild winter regions, Mr. Pinky continues his agricultural duties through the cool season. But there the summer may be too hot and dry for his comfort. In this case , he burrows below and follows the same procedure as his cousins do in cold winter zones. Very often the fortified nest at the bottom of a deep summer or winter burrow is shared by several worms, all coiled up and waiting for the soil above to become mild, moist and moveable.

 

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