Uof I's Big Discovery
Ten inches isn’t three feet but it’s still the find of the century right in here in our back yard. I’m Susan Allen this is Open Range for Thursday and I’ll be back right after the break. No wonder the trout in Idaho are so big, the worms are bigger, at least in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho. University of Idaho researchers are “tickled a lovely shade of earth worm pink” that after two decades they have discovered the creature that existed only in fables, the Giant Palouse Earthworm . The specimens, possibly an entire family consisting of a single parent, teen and three egg cocoons didn’t live up to stuff of pioneer legends, not they weren’t lily smelling three feet long critters but they didn’t disappoint. The ten inch adult was an iridescent and oddly shaped big worm. While the find is a coup for the University of Idaho team it could open a “can of worms” for our regions wheat farmers as it appears that the crawlers live on the rare patches of native prairie among the rolling wheat fields. If they are classified as an endangered species it could restrict farmers ability to farm. Environmental groups have tried in vain to obtain endangered species status for a species many thought didn’t exist. Now we know they do so rest assured they’ll will be coming out of the word work A spokesperson for the Center For Biological Diversity in Portland already was heralding the discovery and calling for more protection. Meanwhile, greenie groups haven’t uttered a peep over the fact the adult worm was sacrificed so that it could be identified and studied. Hum, I thought the whole point was saving them. I’m Susan Allen
