But their body is able to expand and contract, which can make them look even larger than they actually are.\u00a0<\/p>\n
David Attenborough<\/a> featured the giant Gippsland earthworm in his 2005 documentary Life in the Undergrowth<\/a>, highlighting the creature as one of the world\u2019s most extraordinary and rarest animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Giant Gippsland earthworm crawls through a tunnel. Credit: BBC Universal\/Getty Images Giant Gippsland earthworms live in the subsoil along stream banks in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It\u2019s a relatively small area of under 100,000 acres and the earthworms aren\u2019t found anywhere else in the world. Even within their range, they exist in disconnected colonies. They are a protected species in Victoria.<\/p>\n How long do they live?\u00a0<\/p>\n Compared to other invertebrates, giant Gippsland earthworms have a relatively long life expectancy, reaching maturity at about five years and potentially living up to 10 years or more.\u00a0<\/p>\n How do they breed?\u00a0<\/p>\n Breeding in the warmer months, giant Gippsland earthworms lay egg capsules in their burrows, which hatch after about 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sound of a giant Gippsland earthworm<\/p>\n The giant Gippsland earthworm produces a unique, gurgling sound, which sounds like a bath being drained. This sound is produced when the earthworm\u2019s wet, slimy body moves through soil tunnels underground.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s the biggest individual earthworm ever found?\u00a0<\/p>\n The largest individual earthworm ever recorded wasn\u2019t a giant Gippsland earthworm \u2013\u00a0instead, it was an African giant earthworm found in South Africa, measuring a whopping 6.7 metres.\u00a0<\/p>\n Top image: Giant Gippsland earthworm crawls through a tunnel. Credit: BBC Universal\/Getty Images<\/p>\n More amazing animals from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beneath the stream banks of Victoria, Australia, lives an earthworm of extraordinary proportions. The giant Gippsland earthworm is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-307052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhere are giant Gippsland earthworms found?\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Beverley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/giant-Gippsland-earthworm.jpg\")
Beverley Van Praagh, from the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), with one of the giant Gippsland worms. The animal was relocated to make way for a new road near the town of Loch. Credit: Fairfax Media\/Getty Images<\/p>\n