The tough life of a Giant Palouse Earthworm

Giant Palouse Earthworms are so slippery that nobody can verify where they are.

That is why once again they have been denied Endangered Species classification.

The scientists just are not sure how many there are and exactly where they are. In fact, it seems that they are not even sure what they are.

First, it was said they only existed in unspoiled native Palouse soil.

Now, reports have surfaced that they live in forests and as far away as Levenworth.

At first, too, they were considered to be up to three feet long, purplish in color and smelling of lilies.

Now they are white and only a foot long.

Supposedly, too, they spit a lily scented mucus. At least the original ones did. These new ones don’t spit and don’t smell.

It is confusing. Maybe that is why the scientists have been so hard on them. The scientists are just getting even.

At least three Giant Palouse Earthworms have been killed by scientists in their quest to find them and prove their existence. A couple have been sliced in half by shovels as investigators dig for them. A live sample was shipped off to a lab and killed just to find out if it was, in fact, a Giant Palouse Earthworm.

“Sure enough,” said the scientist. “It used to be a Giant Palouse Earthworm.”

At this point, four are being kept alive in baggies.

After all this, not much is known about the Giant Palouse Earthworm, except for one thing: Their only known predators are those scientists studying them.

That makes them a natural for the Endangered Species list. Few species get in trouble on their own.

Gordon Forgey,

Publisher