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It seems like an oxymoron to include the words "fast" and "earthworm" in the same sentence, but we raced to find your answer nonetheless. We typed "fast earthworm" and set out to dig up some facts. The first thing we learned is that earthworms can multiply "faster than rabbits." Interesting, but not quite the information we were looking for. We tried several different searches before striking pay dirt with "how fast worm move" (talk about unwieldy search terms). We found ourselves on a web page titled "Getting
to Know Squirmin' Herman From 'Head to Toe'." Here's what Herman says about his mode of locomotion: It takes a lot of work to get where I want to go. I don't move very quickly, but think about how fast you would go if you had to slide around on your tummy. We wormed our way through a whole slew of web sites and learned that an earthworm moves by contracting its muscles. As it tunnels through the dirt, it is not merely digging, but eating the dirt, which then passes through its body. Unfortunately, we ended our search relatively empty handed. We failed to find a quantitative
answer to your question, but we feel fairly confident in stating that worms can't move 25 miles per hour. That's a pretty good clip, and earthworms just aren't built for speed. When you also consider that they are actually munching as they crawl, it's unlikely they achieve top speeds. Looks like you were right to be skeptical on this one. Just remember, you can't always believe everything you hear (unless it's on Ask Yahoo! of course).
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