Giant African Millipede
NAME:
Giant African Millipede
ZOO NAME:
Mbili (found in the Education Department)
CLASS:
Diplopoda
GENUS:
Archispirostrephs
SPECIES:
A. gigas
LENGTH:
12″
WEIGHT:
Size of a nickel in cross section
LIFESPAN:
10 yrs. (captive), 5-7 yrs. (wild)
DIET:
Dead or rotting material
PREDATORS:
Snakes, Birds, Mammals
RANGE
Coastal, eastern Africa (e..g. Niger, Gabon)
HABITAT
Rainforest, forest floor (detritus, rotting wood)
CHARACTERISTICS
Dull, black, cylindrical in shape. 4 legs/body segment; 80-400 legs. Males have spaces between legs of 7th segment, females have no space.
BEHAVIOR
If threatened, curl up in a ball. Giant African Millipedes also secrete a foul-smelling, caustic liquid. They are powerful burrowers and like to be covered in soil. Millipedes of all kinds are most active at night.
REPRODUCTION
The female lays 100s of eggs in a nest just below ground level. The male stimulates female with his legs and deposits sperm on her body. Female transfers sperm to eggs. The babies hatch after a 3-month gestation period.
ANIMAL FUN FACT!
Ring-tailed Lemurs use the Giant African Millipede’s foul-smelling secretions as a natural bug repellant. They shake up the millipede, which makes it secrete the liquid, then rub the millipede over their bodies.There are over 6,500 kinds of millipedes in the world.
Millipedes are decomposers. They transfer energy in dead or decaying plants into soil.