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Beneath Your Lawn
Did you like this month’s Ranger Rick story about the tiny creatures living beneath your lawn? Here are some more fun underground facts:
- If you counted each of the 100 billion bacteria in a handful of soil at one per second, without stopping, it would take you 320 years to finish. (One billion equals 1,000 million, or 1,000,000,000.
- Every atom in your body has passed through an earthworm’s stomach before it became part of you. (That’s because your body is made up of atoms that come from the food you eat. And almost everything you eat comes from plants. And almost all plants grow in soil that earthworms have eaten over and over again.).
- Tardigrades are also called "water bears" because they live in water and wet soil and have a bear-like shape. When it becomes too hot, too cold, or too dry for them, they shrivel up and become almost lifeless. Some tardigrades can survive this way for more than 120 years and then come back to life.
- The rich smell of freshly dug soil comes from the billions of actinomycetes (ack-TIN-o-my-SEE-tees) that live there. (Actinomycetes are tiny living things that are a lot like both fungi and bacteria.)
Tips for Being Nice to Your Yard
Some lawns are more "alive" than others. Many people spray their lawns with chemicals to get rid of "bad" insects and plants (weeds). But the chemicals kill many of the "good" creatures too—the ones that help keep soil alive and healthy. And the chemicals can be harmful to people and pets. So why not ask your parents to find "natural" ways to care for your grass? You can find out more at Garden in an Environmentally Friendly Way.
You can also ask your parents to turn your yard into a wildlife habitat. A whole world of creatures—big and small, above ground and below—will thank you!
Art by Frank Ippolito