In the southernmost part of the African continent, long, winding trains traverse the countryside, these trains share a name with a much smaller, yet far more significant and widespread creature that roams the forest floor in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the giant African millipede, an armored behemoth that’s one of the most important animals on the forest floor.
Giant African millipedes are a large arthropod, classified by a segmented body, an exoskeleton, and many, many legs! They are currently thriving and doing well in their African rainforest home.
Here's a detailed look into the life and habits of this fascinating creature:
Giant African Millipede Facts Overview
Here is a quick overview of the giant African millipede:
- Habitat: Lowland forest and woody undergrowth
- Location: East and South Africa
- Lifespan: Up to around 10 years
- Size: Up to 34cm (13.5in) long
- Weight: Possibly up to 275g (9.6 0z)
- Color: Black or red
- Diet: Omnivorous, mostly plant matter and detritus
- Predators: Birds and some small mammals
- Top Speed: Slow
- Conservation Status: Least Concern
Habitat and Distribution
The giant African millipede calls the rainforests of subtropical western Africa home. The giant African millipede is widespread in East Africa, where they mostly live on the forest floor, but do also live in coastal regions near woodland. They are most often found in warm, dark places on the rainforest floor such as rotting wood and burrows. Like all millipedes, they are nocturnal and spend their time on the rainforest floor eating decaying plant material.
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Physical Characteristics
The body of the giant African millipede has 40 or more body segments, with four legs (two pairs) per individual segment. Each time a millipede molts, it adds one body segment with four legs. Very large millipedes, with more body segments, can have as many as 400 legs. That’s a lot of feet! Millipedes are named after their copious amounts of legs; legs that work in two pairs attached to each segment. They’re well-protected with armour and chemical defences and can even withstand some of the more ferocious of forest arthropod predators.
Almost every segment of their body also has two pairs of internal organs. Instead of breathing with lungs like mammals, millipedes breathe through tiny pore-like holes located down the length of their body, called spiracles.
Giant African Millipede Care And Info!
Diet and Ecological Role
Millipedes are a type of organism called a detritivore. Detritivores feed on dead and decaying organic matter within their habitat. This organic matter could be things such as decaying trees, logs, and plants. All of these items are nutrient-rich for a millipede and make up most of their diet. Once digested, millipedes leave their waste or droppings along the forest floor.
This particular species of millipede is nocturnal, meaning they come out to forage for food and explore the forest at night. They will crawl along the rainforest floor looking for decomposing material to feed on.
Millipeds are one of the most significant animals in the forest and are ranked (by some very strange people who rank these things) as the most important detritivores (organisms that feed on decaying matter) in the forest. If you know how important earthworms are to recycling organic matter within the ecosystem, then you’ll have an idea of the role of millipedes too. Along with termites, worms and dung beetles, millipedes are part of a team of forest cleaners who take used material and turn it back into nutrients to be used again.
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Defense Mechanisms
The African rainforest is a bustling place with a high level of biodiversity, meaning there are many plants and animals that call this habitat home. With that many animal neighbors, giant African millipedes have to defend themselves against many predators. Birds, small mammals, frogs, and various reptiles can prey upon millipedes. With those things in mind, giant African millipedes have a few defense mechanisms to help protect them from becoming someone else’s tasty snack.
First, the millipede can curl into a tightly coiled ball. Its exoskeleton is made up of calcareous dorsal plates that act as body armor, and when paired with the “duck and cover” coiled method, it can help protect the millipede from being picked up and carried away. Second, the millipede secretes a fluid (called repugnatorial fluid) from each body segment that smells and tastes foul to potential predators.
They poo when you pick them up, and if that doesn’t work, it will leave a nasty deposit from their butt to dissuade you further. Then, if you’re dumb enough to try and eat it anyway, the millipede has toxic secretions from pores along the side of its body that could make you very sick. All in all, this lumbering behemoth is well protected against almost all predators.
They’re invulnerable to driver ants. A combination of tightly coiling into a ball and covering yourself in toxic excrement appears to be a good defence against some of the most formidable predators in the jungle, so keep that in mind if you ever find yourself in that position.
Communication and Reproduction
Communication between millipedes is important! Giant African millipedes have poor eyesight, so their sense of touch seems to play an important role. They can feel with their antennae and their legs, and could possibly communicate by scent as well.
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Reproducing and creating more millipedes is an important part of life in the rainforest. When the time comes to reproduce, a male giant African millipede will wind around a female millipede. A few weeks later, the female will lay hundreds of eggs in a hole in the ground. After about three months, those eggs will hatch, producing a large group of baby millipedes! The babies are white with only a few segments, and roughly three pairs of legs. The babies will molt their exoskeleton within the first 12 hours after birth, and at least 7 to 10 more times as they grow over several years. Once a millipede hatches, it is on its own.
Giant African Millipedes as Pets
Because of their penchant for vegetables, their slow movement and their docile nature, giant African millipedes make it popular and easy to look after pets for collectors. Despite all this, giant millipedes can be handled with ease. As long as you are gentle, they get used to being handled very quickly, and in combination with their tolerance to a range of humidity and temperatures, this makes them a very good starter pet for exotic animal enthusiasts. They can also be kept together with others of the same species without trouble.
Fun Facts
Here are some interesting facts about the Giant African Millipede:
- They are the largest species of millipede
There are thought to be over 10,000 different species of millipede and the giant African millipede is the largest. They can grow up to 34cm (13.5in) in length and around 67 mm (2.6 inches) in circumference. - They have a lot of legs
The word millipede does make it sound like they should have a million legs, although the Latin root for the word million actually means one thousand. Giant African millipedes aren’t as well-equipped. Individuals of Archispirostreptus gigas typically have around 256 legs, depending on how old they are, and how successful their last moult was. - They hang out with some dangerous mites
Many animals carry mites. Aside from the smallest mite, it may even be said that all animals carry them. Usually, they don’t offer much in return for their presence, but in the giant African millipede, its mites are thought to help keep it clean and remove little bits of food and dirt that it can’t reach with its tiny little feet. - But they do fart a lot
One of the side effects of eating mulch is that it can give you gas. Unfortunately, A. gigas has a gut that releases methane as a by-product of all its digestive processes. Methane is one of the most potent of all the greenhouse gases, so understanding how it’s produced in this way, and whether there’s an option of offering antacids to reduce it, might be a useful component in slowing the effects of climate change. - Ride the Millipede
Xhosa is one of the Nguni languages of Southern Africa, and one of the most beautiful spoken languages there is due to its click consonants and tonal inflections. In this language, the millipede is known as shongololo, which basically means “one who rolls up”. When trains entered the continent, their resemblance to these extended arthropods did not go unnoticed. Today, you can ride the millipede, and take the Shongololo Express across multiple Southern African countries over nearly three weeks.
Millipede vs. Centipede
They are not to be confused with a centipede. Here are key differences between millipedes and centipedes:
- Millipedes have four legs per body segment; centipedes have two
- Millipedes legs are positioned under their body, while centipedes are to the side.
- Millipedes are omnivores, while centipedes are carnivores.
- Millipedes do not have venom or bite, while centipedes have fangs with venom.
- While ‘mille’ in millipede means a thousand, ‘centi’ in centipede means hundred.
| Feature | Millipede | Centipede |
|---|---|---|
| Legs per body segment | Four | Two |
| Leg position | Under the body | To the side |
| Diet | Omnivores | Carnivores |
| Venom | Absent | Present |
| Meaning of prefix | Thousand | Hundred |
