Category:Week 18

The alpine centiworm split from its ancestor the rainforest centiworm. It has moved higher in elevation to the alpine region where it was much colder. It has developed heat producing jaws which can melt the ice and snow it lives in. These will glow blue hot due to a chemical reaction which heats them up when produced by glands in its head. However since its takes so much energy to produce these chemicals it only uses them to get through tough ice or to burn predators. It must also hibernate frequently during the winter months to conserve energy. In the warmer months however they will bulk up on food getting very fat. This stored up energy is used to not only survive the winter but to produce the chemicals needed to heat the jaws.

They can maintain the heat they when boring in packed snow and ice because they act as an insulator. It doesn't need to generate heat for long periods of time. This also circulates the heat in the melted water and through the heated air through convection. This can be multiplied by more than one worm being in the same area. Thus during the coldest winters they will tend to huddle together to quicken the boring process.

Behind the jaws are its chemoreceptive hairs which can help it taste the soil to find food. Since it is frequently in recently melted snow it has re-developed its gills as well as having micro-lungs for non aquatic environments. Its segments are even more numerous and it can bend in any direction now. It eats the waste of other creatures as well as the decomposing flora matter of the alpine region. It uses fresh snow to lay its eggs. If it freezes into ice it is too hard for the grubs to hatch from. They do this once a year after the summers when the snow falls again for fall. Each of the 3 genders expels its part of the reproduction process. They require 1 egg, 1 sperm and 1 hormone cell. Without the hormone cell from the 3rd gender bonding to the egg, it will not allow the sperm to enter the egg.