What kind of creatures live in cold places? There are polar bears in the Arctic and penguins in the Antarctic, and these animals live on the ice to be precise. So in cold snow-covered places, are there creatures living in the snow?
Yes, there is a creature called the black ice worm that is the only worm species in the world that lives in the ice, and it is precisely because of their peculiar way of survival that people know very little about them. In recent years, as the climate has warmed and the glaciers have melted, scientists have found that billions of black ice worms crawl onto the ice every summer on Mount Rainier. Let this snowy ice surface, a little more black, but this dense black is a little scary.
Scientists aren't very clear about the worms' habits and why they climb the ice in the summer. But more and more experts are beginning to study this unique creature. After all, under the conditions of a warming climate, the ice surface is where these creatures live, and as the glaciers continue to melt, these creatures actually face a very severe life test, or one day suddenly become extinct.
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The creature of the black ice worm was discovered by humans for about 100 years, during which time they seem to have failed to arouse human interest, and so far, they have been studied very little, so little is known about this creature.
This is a species that is very rich in ice, but why do they live in the depths of the ice most of the time, but climb to the surface of the ice in the summer. What is their life like in ice, and what food do they use as a source of energy for life?
Surprisingly, although these worms can live for months in extremely cold temperatures, that is, in the ice, they are not hardy. Everyone must think it is strange, they are buried under the ice most of the time, and only in the hot summer will they emerge slightly, how can they say that they are afraid of the cold? In fact, they are buried in ice and can be warm enough to maintain temperature, you can imagine that ice is actually a house for them, they live in an igloo made of ice. However, when they climb the ice, the external wind temperature is lower, which can easily make them condense into a solid. After all, the temperature under the ice may still be 0 degrees Celsius, but the temperature above the ice may reach minus 40 degrees Celsius.
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Scientists believe that the main purpose of these worms climbing the ice in the summer should be to forage for food. In the summer, they crawl on the ice and then feed on bacteria and algae on the ice to maintain their energy. But in other times of starvation, the worm buries itself deep in the snow, and they spend most of their lives in the snow, and it is very difficult to study this creature.
Although the black ice worm is said to be widely distributed in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, it is not found in all glacial areas, and they prefer to survive on the edges of alpine forests and frozen peaks. Scientists believe that this black ice worm covered the earth during the last ice age. That is, about 20,000 years ago, when the glacier began to recede, these worms were left on the peaks of the mountains, and finally multiplied and lived in these places.
Everyone knows that all living things live in one biological system, what is the food chain of these worms? Scientists believe that these ice worms are likely to be an important food source for some birds, such as the gray-crowned rose finch in North America, which feeds in the snow, which means that this ice worm is likely to become their food.
As the climate changes, the environment in which the black ice worms live is more fragile than we think, and the places where they live are currently one of the fastest changing places on Earth. In the face of such a dilemma, it seems that there is too little that human beings can do.
The earth is too big, and there are too many creatures that are strange to humans, and many creatures have gone to extinction before humans have time to know.
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