By Mike Isbell
University of Georgia

It was one of the strangest animals I'd ever seen. And I didn't know what to call it except a worm. But it was unlike any worm I'd seen before.

That was many, many years ago. I haven't seen one since. I hadn't even thought of it again -- until today.

Today, a caller from Hogansville said, "Mike, I was out in my yard and I found some kind of earthworm with a head!"

"Earthworms don't have heads," I said. "Are you sure it's an earthworm?"

"Well, no, I'm not sure it's an earthworm," she answered. "My neighbor said it was some kind of a snake. But it doesn't look like a snake to me. It looks like an earthworm with a head."

Oh, yeah, the 'worm'

Suddenly, I recalled the "worm" I'd found under a large, flat rock near Hillabahatchee Creek many years ago. "Does it have two dark streaks running down its back? And is it covered in slime?" I asked.

"Yes, it has two streaks and it's very slimy."

"And does it have a flat head, kind of like a shovel, that it waves back and forth?"

"Yes, it does!" she answered.

"Then I know what it is," I said. "It's a type of flatworm."

Land planarians

These free-living flatworms are known as land planarians (Bipalium kewense Moseley). They're of no economic importance, which basically means they're just out there. They don't hurt anybody.

They feed on earthworms and other small animals, alive or dead, including other land planarians. And they avoid light. They're attracted to moist areas like under rocks and debris.

It's a strange little creature, according to University of Florida scientist Paul Choate in a university publication and Web site. The planarian's mouth has to double as its anus, since it doesn't have an anus. You think I'm kidding, right? But it's true. I imagine that might make it a bit ill-tempered.

It reproduces mainly by pinching off the tip of its tail, which forms a new head in a week or so. But it lays eggs, too. I'm not making this stuff up.

Own worst enemy

Its slimy secretions apparently don't taste good. Hardly any other animals eat them. In fact, about the only thing that will eat it is another planarian. So it really is its own worst enemy.

The waving head, which makes it look like a tiny cobra in front of a snake charmer -- well, that's the way the planarian tests the environment. It has chemical sensors under its head.

What's it testing for?

Darned if I know.

(Mike Isbell is the Heard County Extension Coordinator with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)