And a tongue twister, and an entertaining question for children. How many legs do centipedes have? Any child will answer - forty. And here it is, not forty at all. How so, it was always forty, since childhood it went.
Let's talk about who the centipedes are. What they are. And we will answer the main question, it would seem, known to all of us from a young age.
The centipede is ...
A multi-legged insect whose body is quite long. There are several types of these creatures. Some of them grow to a length of 30 cm, while others live their entire short life a few centimeters in size.
Between centipedes, there are significant differences not only in size. This is the appearance, lifestyle and, of course, the number of legs.
The structure of the body is as follows: the most medium-sized representatives of the species have about 10 body segments. The fact is that the insect body is delimited into segments. And for those centipedes whose "growth" is 30 cm, the number of these same segments reaches, sometimes, 173. Each of them has one pair of legs that are located on the sides of the body. The legs are quite short. How many legs do centipedes have the smallest and largest? This is easy to calculate if you know the number of segments of the body of the insect.
Interesting Facts
It would seem that there is something interesting in an insect that cannot figure out the number of its own legs? However, in the life of centipedes, there are facts about which it is impossible not to tell.
These creatures are not indifferent to high humidity. They can calmly start in those houses and apartments in which the insect will like the humidity.
How many pairs of legs do centipedes have? It is difficult to answer this question, because their number of legs is odd.
The scientific name of the insect is scolopendra.
Scolopendra is that little thing. She can be quite dangerous. What is the danger of such a baby? That it is poisonous.
They inject poison into their victim.
Are centipedes dangerous for an adult? Oddly enough, yes. Meeting with some of the representatives of scolopendras can be fatal to humans.
Particularly dangerous are centipedes - “new settlers” who choose people as neighbors and decide to move to their apartments for permanent residence.
Only one individual with an even number of legs was discovered in nature.
Despite their formidable qualities, centipedes are excellent house cleaners for cockroaches and other nasty insects.
The centipede, which reaches a length of 30 cm, is also called the giant Amazonian scolopendra. It is found in South America. This young lady is very nervous, with a fright is able to bounce high. And she feeds on insects, lizards, mice and birds. Not the most inspirational diet. If such an individual bites a person, then the death does not threaten the latter. But the poisoning will be there.
- How many legs do centipedes have? A little more, and the secret will be revealed.
The most important question
How many pairs of legs do centipedes have? The answer to this question will be known in a few seconds.
So, attention. Centipedes have between 15 and 346 legs. Here is how. And not at all forty, as it turned out.
And how many pairs of legs do 40 centipedes have? Even if we take as a basis a minimum, that is 15 legs, simple arithmetic will help us. 15 times 40 and we get 600. An impressive number, however.
Conclusion
We found out how many legs the centipedes have. And there were not forty at all. And from 15 to 346, depending on the size of the scolopendra.