Incredible behaviour of tiny creatures filmed in world-first: 'Beauty overrides the disgust'
In a world-first, tiny worms have been filmed building towers so they can latch onto passing insects. The strategy has been developed to avoid fierce competition when food runs out, allowing them to travel large distances and find new locations to plunder.
Although most people have never heard of nematode worms, they've probably accidentally eaten one. As a group, they are the most abundant creatures on Earth, and the species at the centre of the study are just 1mm-long and prey on bacteria that grows on rotting apples and pears.
The research was conducted by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, which dubbed the behaviour a 'rare example of collective hitchhiking in nature' because only slime moulds, fire ants, and spider mites had been known to operate like this. The worms slither over each other, spiralling their bodies to form a living tower which can sense touch as insects brush by, causing them to detach.
The study's group leader, Dr Serena Ding spoke to Yahoo News Australia from her lab in Germany this week, explaining that without their insect hosts, the worms would struggle to travel large distances because their moist bodies would dry out and they'd die.
Ding finds the nematodes 'beautiful', although she's well aware that others find them gross. 'I can understand that reaction as well, I've had that reaction to other kinds of worms,' she said.
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Others have also clearly seen the beauty in the translucent nematode species she's studying – its name C. elegans relates to its 'elegant movement'.
'To me, they're not the disgusting type. When they come together to give you beautiful patterns, and fascinating behaviour to look at the beauty side overrides the disgust,' she said.
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It had long been known that nematodes created towers, but this is the first time the behaviour had been studied in detail. The Max Planck team first observed the worms forming themselves into a superorganism in an orchard and then waving in unison, trying to find a passing fruit fly.
'For so long natural worm towers existed only in our imaginations. But with the right equipment and lots of curiosity, we found them hiding in plain sight,' Ding said ahead of the paper's release.
Postdoctoral Researcher Daniela Perez then collected nematodes to film them in her lab. Within two hours of placing them in a food-free environment they began to form towers, which were capable of standing for 12 hours. During this time they would form exploratory arms and bridges to reach new spaces.
'A nematode tower is not just a pile of worms. It's a coordinated structure, a superorganism in motion,' Perez said.
'The towers are actively sensing and growing. When we touched them, they responded immediately, growing toward the stimulus and attaching to it,' she added.
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