The giants hidden under our feet. In the dense of the Australian subsoil, between layers of wet clay and silent underground tunnels, one of the most extraordinary and mysterious invertebrates on the planet is hidden: the GIANT GIPPSLAND GIANT (Megascolides Australis). This underground giant, which can reach three meters in lengthemits gurgling sounds while moving under the surface. Yet, despite its impressive dimensions, it is incredibly fragile and difficult to study.
A vulnerable giant
Unlike the municipal garden municipalities, the giant earthworm is long and very delicate. The slightest contact with a shovel or an agricultural tool can prove fatal: if its body is damaged, the worm bleeds and hardly survives. This makes it particularly vulnerable to the loss of habitats and human activities, such as theintensive agriculture and the drainage of the aquifers, which put its survival at risk.
According to the doctor Beverley Van Praaghexpert of this species, the only way to identify it without damaging it It is carefully listening to underground sounds. A frightened giant earthquake retreats quickly into its lairs, producing a noise similar to the water it flows from a bathtub.
An incredible hidden biodiversity
GIANPLAND GIANPLANO GIANTE is not the only exceptional worm of Australia. The continent hosts an extraordinary biodiversity of species, many of which are still unknown to science. Dr. Pat Hutchingsresearcher of theAustralian Museumtold the Guardian that in shallow waters north of Sydney A marine worm of over a meter has been discoveredtheEunice dharastiiattracted out of his refuge with a fish bait. Other specimens found in the Kimberley region are so long that they can be wrapped around the neck as a living scarf.
An uncertain future for underground giants
GIANPLAND GIANTO GIANTSLAND is a long -lasting but slow reproduction species. It lays one egg at a time, enclosed in an amber cocoon, and the baby takes a year to develop. This low reproductive capacity lor makes it particularly sensitive to environmental changes.
The main threats for this species are the Having drying of the aquifersthe fragmentation of the habitat And the mechanization of agriculture, which destroys the complex tunnel systems in which it lives. If his habitat is not preserved, the earthquake giant could soon become only a memory of the extraordinary Australian biodiversity.
