Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about centipedes. We’ve talked about millipedes in the past, so it’s time to discuss the other leggy animals often confused with them. Later in the video we’ll break down some easy ways to tell centipedes and millipedes apart, so stay tuned! There are currently somewhere around 3,000 classified species of centipedes, give or take a couple hundred, and there are likely many more throughout the world still needing classification. And they really are found throughout the world. Centipedes are almost entirely global. It should come as no surprise to longtime viewers of this show that centipedes are not found in Antarctica, however, they are found on every other continent and have even been observed inside the Arctic circle, so they aren’t deterred by cold weather!

Centipedes are strictly terrestrial, meaning any stories about “marine” centipedes are likely either false or in reference to another creature - bristle worm, such as a sand striker, for example. That being said, centipedes have found a place for themselves in just about every habitat on earth. Centipedes like a moist habitat, so even those living in desert regions will restrict their activity to the most humid parts of the day. They need a constant source of moisture otherwise they’ll dry out. Like millipedes, centipedes have breathing holes in their bodies that they are unable to close, meaning they lose water faster than other arthropods who may more readily retain it. This is often why centipedes are found hiding in damp areas such as leaf litter, soil, under fallen logs and under bark; it’s also the reason many centipedes are nocturnal!

Centipede means 100 legs, though centipedes never naturally have 100 legs. Centipedes have segmented bodies and each body segment has a single pair of legs. Centipedes always have an odd number of segments, so they can never have 100 legs! Though, I suppose they could lose some and end up with 100 just on a whim. Centipedes may drop legs to escape predators, but they’ll regrow them as they molt. Many centipedes have fewer than 100 legs total, but some species have nearly 200! All those legs can get tangled if they aren’t careful; so, centipedes have devised ways of walking to avoid tripping all over themselves, such as what we discussed in our house centipede episode. A centipede’s first pair of legs are especially important because these are modified into venom injecting fangs.

Centipedes are active predators and often eat other animals in the form of insects, spiders, earthworms, frogs, toads, and in the case of larger centipedes, bats, small mammals, and birds! Most centipedes are less than two inches long, but some species can reach more than ten inches in length! They don’t start out this long, though. Most centipedes hatch from eggs. In some cases, the mother centipede will remain with her brood and care for and protect it until the eggs hatch a few days later. She’ll remain with them until they start to disperse after a few days. Other centipedes just lay their eggs and leave, though they’re generally laid under soil and hidden from the eyes of potential threats. As they grow, many centipedes will obtain new segments and pairs of legs until they reach adult size, and they may live to be more than five years old!

All right, so now that you’ve had a good chance to get to know centipedes, let’s talk about how to tell them apart from millipedes. In mentioning that centipedes are primarily predators we gave away two of the distinctions between these two arthropod classes. Centipedes are generally fast moving animals, while millipedes are slow. Burrowing centipedes who are designed to, well, burrow, aren’t made for quick movement, but they can still bite a human, something no millipede is able to do. Of course, we wouldn’t recommend testing this particular difference out in the wild. Another sign that a leggy creature is actually a centipede and not a millipede is the body shape. Centipedes are generally quite flat so they can fit into those tight living quarters we talked about previously. Millipedes are generally quite round. There are exceptions to this, too, because nature is just gonna do its own thing. And probably the most well known difference between centipedes and millipedes is that centipedes only have one pair of legs per body segment and millipedes have two pairs. If you haven’t already watched our millipede episode, we recommend you check it out!

For more facts on centipedes, check out the links in the description. Thank you to KalTek Industries for today’s request. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.