Scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have for the first time prepared a report on the two-way mass migration of blue earthworms in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills Mawlyngot area.
Key Points
- Every year, an army of blue earthworms migrate about 300 metres up and down the steep slopes in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills. These earthworms are around 1.6 feet.
- But the locals apparently beat them to observing these earthworms, scientifically called Perionyx macintoshi, and the role they play in enhancing the fertility of soil on their land to shift to ecologically sustainable organic farming.
- On the other hand, scientists Ilona Jacinta Kharkongor and Bhaskar Saikia found areas where unsustainable land-use practices have drastically reduced the population of earthworms to a few lethargic wrigglers. The major reasons for the damage are stone quarry and heavy earth-cutting for road connectivity and village expansion.
- The blue earthworms migrate twice every year uphill in spring and downhill in autumn on inclines of up to 80-85 degrees to evade environmental factors that affect them.
- The research was done around the Mawlyngot plateau and the rivers Um Stew and Um iuh around it from 2011 to 2015.
- The uphill migration starts in April-May and the downhill migration happens during September-October.
- The timing is important during downhill as the worms fail to reach their favored destination if there is any deviation in the ecological factors.
The study he co-authored with Kharkongor was published in the latest issue of the journal, Records of the Zoological Survey of India.
