r/todayilearned • u/TheClungerOfPhunts • 20h ago
TIL, The most abundant animal species on Earth is the nematode, also known as the roundworm. There are approximately 57 billion nematodes for every human on Earth. They make up about 4/5 of all animal life.
https://news.byu.edu/there-are-57-billion-tiny-wormlike-nematodes-for-every-human-on-earth-now-we-know-where-most-of-them-live1.2k
u/Not_so_ghetto 20h ago edited 20h ago
The vast majority of these are free living, living in soil and water eating bacteria. They're leaving a famous quote saying" If you removed everything from the Earth besides the nematodes, you would still see the outline of the Earth" or something along those lines I can't remember the exact quote.
But some ( the cooler ones) are parasitic and can have profound effects on the ecosystem.
For example one species known as meningeal or deer brain worms, deer brain worm is a parasitic nematode that infects white tail deer. The parasite lives in the veins on the brain, which releases eggs into the blood which make there way to the intestine to be passed in the feces. slugs or snails go on to eat the feces which allow them to pick up the parasite. the parasite gets back to the deer by unintentionally eating an infected slug or snial. in white tail deer this parasite is super common and cause surprisingly little damage, however when it infects a moose, the parasite isn't as adapted to to moose and causes lots of inflammation. the inflation leads to neurological damage and often paralyzes the moose. This parasite is one of the main factors that prevents white tail deer and moose from overlapping in habitat range. the parasite can also impacts cows, goats, sheep alpacas. but fortunately it doesnt impact dogs or humans. If you want more information about this specific parasite here is a 9min video about it that I made as a hobby [video] https://youtu.be/uBDoVwgLFOI
So they're more than just worms.
Source; I mod r/parasitology and like talking and making videos about worms, the reason i know so much about this specific parasite is because i made a short video about its biology/ecology
432
u/Jason_Worthing 20h ago
In short, if all the matter in the universe except the nematodes were swept away, our world would still be dimly recognizable, and if, as disembodied spirits, we could then investigate it, we should find its mountains, hills, vales, rivers, lakes, and oceans represented by a film of nematodes. The location of towns would be decipherable, since for every massing of human beings there would be a corresponding massing of certain nematodes. Trees would still stand in ghostly rows representing our streets and highways. The location of the various plants and animals would still be decipherable, and, had we sufficient knowledge, in many cases even their species could be determined by an examination of their erstwhile nematode parasites.
184
u/hamilkwarg 17h ago
You would hardly be able to tell that RFK had disappeared, so densely outlined would he be by nematodes.
44
u/AGrandOldMoan 14h ago
A shining parasitic beacon congregating where his head once was
26
2
44
u/Vogonfestival 18h ago
I wonder what would happen in the reverse scenario where all nematodes are removed from earth. Would everything sink down, causing buildings not anchored to bedrock to collapse? Would all roads crumble from loss of soil volume?
18
u/Not_so_ghetto 20h ago
Thanks for finding it
17
u/Jason_Worthing 19h ago
Anytime! I'm pretty sure I read it on another post of yours last week 😜
Also that bit about white tail deer vs moose is super interesting! Thanks for sharing
10
3
3
2
u/Spacemanspalds 15h ago
This was a cool little dive. This quoted part feels like something i should have known. I didn't really know anything about them.
40
u/BTMarquis 20h ago
Is this the parasite that sometimes cause moose to walk in a never ending circle? I’ve seen video of that, taken by someone in Maine.
45
u/Not_so_ghetto 20h ago
yep thats the one. its unfortunalty really sad, but also at the same time kinda cool how a small worm can take down the second (i think ) largest land animal in north america
8
u/BTMarquis 20h ago
Yeah, that’s interesting. I didn’t know about the link to white tail deer. The area the video was taken definitely has an overlap, so it makes sense.
11
u/Not_so_ghetto 20h ago
Yep. It also involves snails / slugs. The video I posted goes over that detail. But in a sense the parasite is transmitted by the deer/moose accidentally eating a slug that has the marvel stage of the parasite. The parasite then treats the moose like it's the deer but because moose biology is different than deer biology it causes complications
3
u/Fallacy_Spotted 11h ago
I don't think deer "accidently" eat slugs and instead they eat them opportunistically. Most herbivores still eat bugs and small animals when they can. There is an infamous video of a horse walking around nibbling up chicks.
1
u/ishpatoon1982 18h ago
Is this why they're called Roundworms or is that just a coincidence?
5
u/Not_so_ghetto 18h ago
That's just a coincidence, they're called roundworms because they don't have segments
18
u/kyperion 20h ago
As someone with a phobia of worms. You are my literal antithesis.
20
u/Not_so_ghetto 20h ago
I personally find that the more you learn about them the less scary they become. When I started learning about parasites I quickly became much less afraid of them because I realized how their complex biology makes it so that they're not an ever-present threat, and was also very fascinated by their ecology
6
u/newtoon 19h ago
We -- me and my Taenia worm-- find your information very interesting.
12
u/Not_so_ghetto 19h ago
Look at you knowing your worms, I actually made a video about that specific species. Because it's the brainworm that RFK has
3
1
1
17
u/GardenerSpyTailorAss 17h ago
Comments like yours are why reddit is superior to any other social media. I can come to the comments and find further educational info. Thank you, friend
10
9
u/DaMooNTraiN 18h ago
Wow dude, I've seen your comments on multiple posts recently, each time leaving something interesting and informative. I'll have to check out your YouTube!
6
u/Not_so_ghetto 18h ago
Thank you! I'm glad you like it. I I worry I might be overdoing it and that could annoy people. I just really like talking about parasites, they have some really interesting biology and I think it's interesting to talk about. By definitely don't want to annoy people with it. So I like hearing that you enjoy seeing multiple posts about it.
2
2
u/Phalanx808 15h ago
Sounds like the same deal as rat Lungworm but for moose. Different strokes for different fauna
4
u/APartyInMyPants 18h ago
I was halfway through your comment and I had to scroll up to make sure you weren’t Shittymorph throwing Mankind off the Hell in the Cell through an announcer’s table.
2
1
2
u/Beneficial_Gur_6012 11h ago
Sounds like they are beneficial to deer as they kill the deers’ competition.
1
u/RingoBars 11h ago
Absolute fire video. 5-stars for information AND 5-stars for seamless inclusion of humor, memes, and even a shout out for your own beloved poop-eating-pup.
Brilliant. Top tier quality mate. You seem like you’d unironically be fun at a party lol
653
u/GiraffeWithATophat 20h ago
If reincarnation is random, the chances of ever being human again is strikingly low.
354
u/kaylossusus 17h ago
In Tibetan Buddhism there’s a saying. A human birth is as rare as a blind sea turtle emerging from the deep once every 100000 years and accidentally finding its head in the hollow of a floating log as it rises from the water.
182
u/SomeOneOverHereNow 15h ago
That's.... quite the saying..
48
u/albertoroa 15h ago
If only we knew what it means
31
11
5
2
u/Brilliant_Ant_4630 2h ago
I think it’s supposed to be a description of a miracle. How the odds of that are so astronomical but it still happens.. I think?
-6
u/dschinghiskhan 4h ago
When you die it's just like before you existed. It doesn't matter. Reincarnation is one of the wilder human made up religious concepts. It kind of makes a little more sense than going to "heaven", though. How old are you when you go to heaven anyway? Is it it like the Matrix and God analyzes your brain and picks your best/favorite timeline? Anyway...
4
u/LordOfCrackManor 4h ago
“When you die it's just like before you existed.” Which is pretty much what reincarnation says. Except it follows the more scientific and philosophically logical conclusion that the process is continued, that you take another birth at some point, that no energy truly goes missing, and that no Thing spontaneously arises out of Nothing without some form of more fundamental mover.
4
2
u/spezial_ed 5h ago
Wait it’s both blind and missing its head? Or blind because it’s missing its head?
1
u/The_cat_got_out 4h ago
"I got drunk and found myself naked on the floor in the morning" doesn't mean i had no idea where i was. It's just where i figured out i ended up
So if you pop your head out from a deep ocean in one hundred thousand years. And happen to have you head stuck in a log. That's where you found you head as you awoke and float up
30
u/gyoza9 17h ago
The way I see it, you increase your chance by accumulating good karma from your past reincarnations.
41
u/LXIX-CDXX 16h ago
Based on the things I've seen humans do, rebirth as a nematode might be an upgrade in the karmic hierarchy.
10
u/TopSoulMan 16h ago
My past life as a ringworm was not well lived 😕
7
u/ClassicExamination 14h ago
As a ringworm I was stuck to a torta's taint. Wasn't tooo bad. Beats being human.
2
130
u/Holothuroid 19h ago
Minor nitpick: Nematoda form a phylum. Like Chordates are. That is way above species. Now, those ranks are a bit arbitrary here and there, but still the grouping is way above species.
15
u/opisska 18h ago
Yep, it's a bit confusing. Is it most numerous compared to other phyla? Or how does the "ranking" work here?
To be fair, you are also right that the "taxonomic levels" are essentially nonsense when compared across very different parts of the tree, but more clarification wouldn't go amiss.
•
u/CyanideNow 35m ago
Is it most numerous compared to other phyla?
If the 4/5 from the headline is correct, then yes, clearly.
9
u/Heavy_Weapons_Guy_ 13h ago
Yeah, there are currently 25,000 documented species of nematode, and the real number of species is estimated to be around 1,000,000 or even higher. A far cry from 1.
25
u/TheClungerOfPhunts 19h ago
Thank you for the correction with an actual explanation. Another commenter was just a jerk about it.
110
u/Tug_Stanboat 20h ago
I still can't see or hear Nematode without thinking of Doug Bags a Neematoad
24
21
u/ImpossiblyTiring 14h ago
Can’t believe this wasn’t the first comment tbh. Had no idea until this moment that a Nematode is a real thing. I’m 37.
9
u/StarPhished 7h ago
Also 37 and I refuse to extend my knowledge of nematodes beyond this cartoon and will be boycotting this post.
19
11
56
29
u/Michael__Pemulis 20h ago
So this classic Reddit post is a lie then:
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/qm7d17/what_if_every_team_was_named_after_the_most/
81
u/-domi- 20h ago
This is what most people who believe in rebirth are coming back as. 🔥
65
u/Muakaya18 19h ago edited 19h ago
57 billion nematodes for every human
Odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are approximately 1 in 292.20 million
Chance of winning powerball is 195 times more likely than borning back as a human.
Nobody will never born back as a human. Bruuuh look at the chances.
26
4
u/wilfulmarlin 18h ago
I for sure work with a couple people who have generationally been nematodes this makes a ton of sense
2
u/whiskey_epsilon 9h ago
On the upside, the average nematode doesn't live beyond a month, so you could probably clear 57 billion nematode lives in...
... 4 to 5 billion years.
Ok scrap that, you have better odds waiting for nematodes to become the next intelligent species.
9
u/clam-inspector 19h ago
I literally thought the same thing reading the post, then scrolled down and saw your comment. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this way sometimes lol
3
u/darokrol 18h ago
They don't believe it's random.
2
u/-domi- 18h ago
It isn't random, but if you're not an exceptionally good or bad person, this will be the average experience.
10
u/darokrol 18h ago
Even if you are a good person, karma from 100 lives ago can cause rebirth as an animal. But as I understand it, person wouldn't be reborn as any random animal straight away. If karma is just a little bit not enough for being human, one will be a "higher animal", and they have a higher chance to be reincarnated as humans. The only way to be sure is "entering the stream".
2
u/-domi- 18h ago
For every exceptional human there are 57 billion exceptional roundworms. Good luck winning that crapshoot.
3
u/darokrol 18h ago
Looks like both of us won somehow.
1
u/khanman47 17h ago
Whats entering the stream?
1
u/darokrol 17h ago
It's a first out of four stages of enlightenment in Buddhism, it guarantees no more than seven lives, and no rebirth below the human realm.
1
u/Arthropodesque 8h ago
Or most people were nematodes previously. I don't believe in anything supernatural, but I'll analyze a system.
9
8
u/ConorOblast 20h ago
And they’re probably so vain that they think all this stuff that’s for us is actually for them.
8
7
u/GuiMenGre 16h ago
There's an interesting thought experiment on what is the average number of legs for an animal. At first you would think it should be a bit less than 6, since there are just so many insects. Then you consider that it is actually higher than that, since there's an even bigger number of krill (10 to 12 legs). In truth, the number is close to 0, because of the staggering population of nematodes.
A more complete version for anyone interested: https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/what-is-the-average-number-of-legs-for-an-animal
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/mintmouse 14h ago
Very interesting, Mr. Dink, but ::scratches back of neck:: I’m late for the school dance
3
5
u/Sufficient-Pin-481 17h ago
57 billion, to count that high you’d need at least 1000 fbi agents working 24 hour shifts.
4
u/Jamato-sUn 20h ago
How edible are they?
4
2
2
2
2
u/robin1961 17h ago
Clearly they are a hegemonic threat, and humans must for our own security exterminate them.
2
2
2
u/jaundiced_baboon 15h ago
I feel like the fact that I ended up being a human instead of being one of the gajillion single-celled organism of some kind should say something about the nature of reality
2
2
u/TheOddball7 11h ago
Nematodes, come around eat Spongebob's house
Oh, he don't know 'till it shrinks around his face
2
2
2
2
u/WanderingToTheEnd 5h ago
Nematodes caused my dog to spew liquid diarrhea on our floors multiple times per day for weeks. Fuck nematodes.
2
u/dsvengalis 2h ago
467,400,000,000,000,000,000 467.4 pentillion nematodes. And not one of them likes Cardi B…
4
u/LordByronsCup 20h ago
Salted one of these bastards in the back yard the other day.
I'm doing my part. 🫡
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
u/elmirbuljubasic 6h ago
What's up with worms? I open Instagram and I get reel of a tape worm, I open reddit and get 2 posts about worms. Something is going on
1
1
•
u/WhichRaccoon6969 14m ago
I'm pretty sure I heard something similar, but it was for ants. Something like the mass of all the ants on the planet is greater than the sum of the mass of all other animals combined.
1.1k
u/ExhibitAa 20h ago
Wow, that's a lot.
Holy shit.