“There are so many species of animals here. Now I know for sure we’re in Australia,” Scorch said, hovering around the mining region of Western Australia.
“Whoa! Look at that worm! It’s so long. And, quite frankly, creepy. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies,” Orak said. He’s not really a fan of crawling creatures.
“It’s a millipede, Orak,” said Felix. “The miners found it a few days ago almost 200 feet below the ground. My guess is it’s 9.5 cm long. But I overheard the Australian scientists discussing that this millipede has 1,300 legs – the highest number of legs found on any animal to date! They’ve decided to name it Eumillipes Persephone.
This is a great finding for the animal world as no millipede with even 1,000 legs had been discovered, even though ‘millipede’ means a thousand feet. ‘Eumillipes’ means true thousand feet, and ‘persephone’ comes from Greek mythology where it’s the name of an underworld queen. It’s a perfect match! This newly discovered creature has 1,300 legs and it was found buried deep under the ground,” Felix explained.
“I wonder how many animals are still to be discovered by scientists,” Scorch said.
“Do millipedes bite?” Scorch said to scare Orak.
“No, Scorch,” Felix giggled. “Most of them feed on decaying plants, animals, or wood. You can say they’re our friends as they help to keep gardens clean by eating up the rotting matter.”
Orak breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he was safe from the ‘creepy worm’.