There are some animals in our zoo that cannot be found in Icelandic nature. One of those species is the giant African millipede, which is the largest living species of millipedes, but it is thought that there are around 12.000 species of millipedes on the planet. The giant African millipede can grow to be 40 cm long, or as long as two pencils, almost 7 cm in circumference and has around 256 legs.
Millipedes are within the largest phylum, arthropods. Other arthropods are for example, insects, crustaceans, arachnids and other similar animals that have segmented and hard bodies. Millipeds have two pairs of legs on each segment of their body except on the ones that come after their head, the first has no legs while the second has only one pair of legs.
Millipedes are slow moving animals that are detritus feeders and therefore feed on debris from organic matter. They also eat leaves that have fallen off trees. Detritus feeders are important since they are part of the bottom of the food chain in many ecosystems. Another similar species, centipedes, are related to millipedes. However, centipedes are carnivorous and can be poisonous. They also have fewer legs, as they only have one pair of legs on each segment but at the front of their body they have poisonous claws.
The giant African millipede is a widespread species in lowland areas in East-Africa, from Mozambique to Kenya. It lives in forests and on beaches that have trees. Millipedes have two defense mechanisms, they can roll themselves up, leaving their hard shell on the outside to protect them. They can also secrete irritant fluid out of their sweat glands at the end of their body, which can be harmful if it goes in the eyes or mouth. Millipedes can grow to be 10 years old. They have a symbiotic relationship with small ants that live on their body, often close to and around their legs. Both species benefit from this coexistence because the ants clean the millipedes body and feed on dead skin and other things as well as getting a secure place to live.
