After the rain, earthworms appear on sidewalks, roads, and floors where we normally never see them. But when the water evaporates, the environment changes rapidly. In this mini-documentary, we follow an earthworm trapped on the surface to understand how it breathes through its skin, why moisture is essential, what dehydration does to its fluids and muscles, why rain doesn't necessarily mean they were drowning, and how different species cope with drought, heat, and exposure.

Timestamps:
00:00 The surface becomes a trap
01:12 How an earthworm breathes without lungs
02:35 A body made mostly of water
03:58 Why skin needs to stay moist
05:20 The truth about earthworms after the rain
06:46 Water doesn't mean immediate drowning
08:08 Movement, heat, and water loss
09:31 When dehydration starts to win
10:54 The estivation strategy
12:18 Why there is no universal survival time
13:41 The different lives of earthworms
15:05 Soil as physiological shelter
16:28 The last way back

#Earthworms #Nature #Biology #Soil #Rain #AnimalLife #Science #Curiosities #Documentary #Animals

BASE SOURCES CITED IN THE SCRIPT:
Roots, B. I. (1956), “The Water Relations of Earthworms: II. Resistance to Desiccation and Immersion…”, Journal of Experimental Biology 33:29–44, DOI 10.1242/jeb.33.1.29.
de Sosa, I. et al. (2022), gene expression study of a riparian earthworm under cold and desiccation, Science of the Total Environment.
Świątek, Z. M. et al. (2019), study of energy reserves and respiratory rate in Eisenia andrei.
Abe, A. S. (1985), study of oxygen consumption in active and estivating Glossoscolex paulistus.
Cai, J. et al. (2025), study of surface behavior in Lumbricus terrestris under artificial night light.
Charles Darwin (1881), “The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits”.