Discussing the earthworm.

Earthworms eat decaying organisms but as they eat they ingest large amounts of soil, sand, and tiny pebbles. It's estimated that an earthworm ingests and discards its own weight in food and soil every day. Earthworms are hermaphroditic, they functional reproductive organs of both sexes occur in the same individual. The sperm of an individual earthworm fertilizes the eggs of another individual earthworm.

During mating two earthworms are bound together by a sticky mucus while each transfers sperm to the other. The worms separate and form cocoons. The cocoon moves forward, picking up eggs and it picks ups the sperm deposited by the other earthworm. The cocoon slides over the head, and fertilization takes place. Within 24 hours after the worms mate, the cocoon is deposited in the soil. Miniature earthworms usually emerge from the cocoon after two to four weeks. They become sexually mature in 60 to 90 days and grow to full length in about a year.

Earthworms usually remain near the soil surface, but they are known to tunnel as deep in winter or dry times. One Asian species is known to climb trees to escape drowning after heavy rainfall.

Earthworms provide food for a large variety of birds and animals. Indirectly they provide food for man by their beneficial effects on plant growth. Earthworms aerate the soil; this promotes drainage, and then draws organic material into their burrows where it decomposes faster. This process produces more nutritive materials for growing plants. Earthworms also serve as fish bait this is where it's other name, angleworm, gets it name.