Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

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.

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

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