What is it about worms? Why are they suicidal?

Do they get washed out onto the concrete, along with the dirt they were in?

I have no idea why they do that (I’ve always wondered too) but I gotta add that worms definitely have no idea what concrete is or what it will do to them.

No. @MyNewtBoobs I don’t think so. Take a walk after a rainstorm and these guys will be drying out all over the sidewalk. I don’t think they were “washed there”. It doesn’t even have to be a major storm, but there they are.

I don’t know for certain, but my hunch is that they come up from the saturated ground to breathe and, being worms not too bright, crawl onto the concrete searching for a tree to climb, and dry out.

If I remember correctly, they’re coming up to get out of the saturated ground. What I don’t know is how they end up on the sidewalk. Are they swept there by the rainwater?

This leads me to another question… if I see a live one (still inching along) on the sidewalk, should I put it over in the grass? It seems like it would be the kind thing to do. Or is it like touching a baby bird that fell from its nest?

yes @HungryGuy and @tedibear are you two channeling?

But it happens even after a light rain. Is there something in wet concrete that draws them? I don’t see them in asphalt parking lots or streets. They are all over the concrete.

@Blueroses – I don’t think they’re drawn to the concrete. They’re probably just squirming around, and some end up on the concrete. For every two or three you see on a square meter of concrete, there’s probably hundreds in a square meter of grass.

right, @HungryGuy but why do they end up on the concrete to begin with? When there are meters of grass?

they crawl out of the ground so they do not drown in it when it rains.

There seems to be a consensus forming…

@Blueroses – Brownian (worm) motion?

Considering how many I find just brushing damp leaves aside in the woods, I suspect that they’re accustomed to being able to hide under leaf cover like that. They don’t expect places to be so bare.

ok @ragingloli how do they get stuck there? In the middle of the sidewalk? I can see clambering up an edge… why go further?

Their burrows get flooded with water while raining so they leave. The burrows could also be located underneath the sidewalk so they end up on top if not alongside the pavement. They don’t seem to know or maybe they do but no choice so they soak or drown in shallow water pools and get squished by shoes.

I would buy an answer that they’re looking for some sentient warmth, but again, why go so far? My patio is covered by an awning and all the seams are silicone sealed so I’m pretty sure there are no burrows being flooded beneath it… but after a rain, I’m picking up 10 live ones and putting them into the grass.

@Blueroses – “Why go further?” Because they’re worms and not too bright. They’re all just crawling around in random directions and some just happen to wind up on the concrete.

Imagine that you are on a boat in the ocean, and it sinks. You see some land in the horizon and head towards it in order to risk drowning. You land on shore, but because you have no arms or legs, the only options are to attempt to wriggle over a rough surface of sand or rocks or head back into the ocean. Oh, and you have the intelligence of a worm.

We get them on the asphalt roads and driveways, as well as the sidewalks. I just pick them up and toss them back in the grass after the rain stops. Most of my shoes have a textured sole, and the thought of stepping on one and then carrying its remains into the house creeps me out.

They don’t want to drown. If it’s convenient, I’ll carry them over to my compost pile, which is not saturated. I save their lives, give them food, and they make nice soil for me.

I’d like to imagine that there’s some other worm world… They do it on a dare “go out as far as you can Mikey and I’ll time you!” thanks queenie Like spending the night in a haunted house. Or it’s punishment for the most stupid of worms… “you are banish-ed! to the farthest reaches of patio! May your bravery be tested or may you never return.” Thus, spoke the king.

@Blueroses ;) lol!

They don’t want to drown, so they crawl to any place that keeps them out of the water. The sidewalk is a good place because the water runs off and doesn’t sink in. If they get into a pool on the sidewalk, they struggle mightily to get out before they drown.

Once they are on the sidewalk, they keep going in order to try to find more hospitable territory. They often don’t find it before the sun comes out and fries them.

Did you ever eat a worm? Several people here have, I think. There are questions about this.

They’re still trying to prove that the earth is round, and having some trouble with puddles, ponds, rivers and oceans.

I hate when that happens. I always make it my mission after a thunderstorm to pick up the little wormies from the sidewalk so they don’t fry themselves on the pavement.

Actually, I think that what happens now that I have been roused to think about it is that the worms, in seeking a place that is above the temporary flood they’re experiencing, and because they’re not climbers, find the concrete or asphalt… and then drown there. It seems that what’s happening is the concrete or asphalt is flat enough, or crowned to drain to the edges, that there’s enough residual water there that they can’t get out of. The frying afterward is simply what happens to corpses of all kinds left to weather.

I think the proof of that is the number of worms that you see lying on the concrete that are fully extended. They’re the ones that are dying (or have already died) while attempting to continue to move to a safe place.

It’s a great answer @WasCy if I didn’t see them on my covered patio. No water and they are way up there by the steps. I hate treading on them with bare feet. It isn’t logical that they would go so far to avoid floods and they get stranded. To get dry, they’d only have to go a few inches in… why are they 8 feet in?

Those may be the explorers and pioneers, @Blueroses.

Seriously, I’m just guessing that their “thought process” is sort of binary: during the rainstorm, “dirt bad / dry concrete good”, so they stick to what is “good” and it eventually kills them.

It’s funny, now that I ponder this a bit more, but… don’t many of us humans do the same thing? “Hunger bad / Food good; eat more until it kills us.”

See @ragingloli To avoid drowning

funny @WasCy I just told @queenie that this reminded me of the Oregon Trail game.

Worm philosophy. Is it wrong?

They are trying to escape from a Lady Gaga look-alike worm who only shows up underground when it rains.

In the case of a worm, I think there’s a distinction between “self-destructive behavior” and “suicide.” It’s not that they get depressed and go off their worm-Prozac and ditch their families for the sidewalk of death. They seek the right level of moisture (see @WasCy‘s answer) but are unable to foresee their demise when the rain stops. Such is the worm brain.

Annelids such as earthworms have endured for over half a billion years of natural selection, so their evolved behaviors are overall quite successful. Sidewalks are geologically recent!

I can safely say that i’ve never given the welfare of worms a moments thought….until now!
Maybe it’s as simple as they’re just thick as a gurkha’s foreskin, perhaps.