interview with a millipede

centipede

Originally uploaded by common man.

I had always thought this fellow was a centipede until I looked up wiki and found that centipedes are actually venomous and look totally different and I don’t remember ever seeing one in my life. So all the ‘centipedes’ I’ve ever seen have actually been millipedes… but well, what’s in a name… 😉 !

[I = interviewer, M = millipede]

I: Hi there… what’s your name…?
M: oh hi… I’m Milli
I: first things first… if you don’t mind me asking… do you really have a thousand (Latin milli = 1000) legs??
M: Why… didn’t your granny teach you how to count?
I: as a matter of fact she didnt… but well anyway (actually counting was done based on a zoomed image photo later) … you do have close to 100 on one side… so I guess that should make it 200 in all… more or less…?
M: You said it… we have two legs per body segment… and I don’t plan to grow any more either…
I: wow that’s a lot of feet! How fast can you move with them?
M: You think its fun? With so many legs means that I’ve have to walk carefully in order not to trip over my own feet! My two legs per segment don’t move simultaneously, and that dosen’t exactly help either.
I (taking a step back): Hey btw… you aren’t posinous are you?
M: Well when we’re in trouble we just curl up into a tight ball… we’re pretty tough-skinned you know…
I: thick skinned?
M: whatever… anyway if that fails some of us can emit a somewhat poisonous liquid irritating for smaller creatures but more or less harmless to you humans! But my cousin centipede… you’d really really better stay away from him!! Ok I’m getting late for my breakfast… see you later…
I: anything special today?
M: no… same old plants and decaying materials as usual… bye!

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references:
garden safari
wiki: millipede

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[Long ago I’d written an “interview with a butterfly’ – haven’t been able to find that one. It had a front-faced picture of a butterfly, and a lot of info about them in the form of question and answers. If I’d sent it to you and you can find it I’d really appreciate it if you could email it back to me… thanks]