Earthworms and Cheap Motels
I’m told earthworms curl up in a mucus-covered ball each winter. Why in the world would they do that?
———- from Steve Dettinger of Washington, PA
Have you ever stayed in a really cheap motel? The kind where the mattress is so soft that the bed practically swallows you and the sheets have a thin, greasy feel to them? If so, that motel was built to approximate the mucus-covered ball of the earthworm — which, of course, was the evolutionary precursor of motels built before 1980. Since the ’80s, all motels have super-firm mattresses, are perpetually cooled to near freezing and the carpets are soaked in toxic solvents. No wonder earthworms curl up elsewhere, unless they’ve got a major credit card.
Have you ever stayed in a really cheap motel? The kind where the mattress is so soft that the bed practically swallows you and the sheets have a thin, greasy feel to them? If so, that motel was built to approximate the mucus-covered ball of the earthworm — which, of course, was the evolutionary precursor of motels built before 1980. Since the ’80s, all motels have super-firm mattresses, are perpetually cooled to near freezing and the carpets are soaked in toxic solvents. No wonder earthworms curl up elsewhere, unless they’ve got a major credit card. 