Worm Experiment

[clueblue]

I am doing a experiment for my 5th grade science class. I have two worm farms one with worms that are whole and one with worms that I cut in half. I am trying to see which worms eat more kitchen scraps but the ones that are cut in half keep dying. Can you cut a worm and two and will it survive? Am I doing something wrong??? Thanks in advance for your help.

[deleted-71417]

Hi,

It appears that some types or worm may regenerate when cut in half, but most types of worm die when cut in half.

http://www.sciencetheater.org/ask_st/052495.html

http://www.austmus.gov.au/factSheets/earthworms.htm

http://www.css.cornell.edu/compost/worms/faq.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 83,00.html

http://www.springerlink.com/content/m578q57700n47r5x/

If your worms are planaria, I think the two cut halves may regenerate into full worms. As far as I can discover if the worms are not planaria, if you are lucky one half may survive, but the other half will die, and most of the time both halves of a worm cut in two die.

I hope this helps.

Good luck with the project!

Barrett Tomlinson

[deleted-71670]

Also, please make sure your teacher/science fair guidelines allow such an experiment with animals. Some fairs have strict requirements about using animals.