HOW MANY LEGS DO MILLIPEDES HAVE?

Question: HOW MANY LEGS DO MILLIPEDES HAVE?
- Keywords:
  insect
Asked by harrison123 to Daniela, Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 19 Jun 2013.
- Jono Bone answered on 19 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi harrison123,
  
  Great question!
  
  The word milli means 1000 and pede means leg but they don’t actually have a thousand legs.
  It all depends on the millipede. Each segment has a pair of legs and they get older, they have more segments. The number of legs usually ranges from 80 to 400, although there are a few that have as many as 750.
- Ian Wilson answered on 19 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi harrison123,
  
  As you’ve no doubt guessed from your question, no millipedes (that we know of) have the 1,000 legs that the ‘milli’ in their name would suggest.
  
  Millipedes have 4 legs (so 2 pairs) on each segment of their body, and as they get older and get bigger, they grow new segments, meaning they develop more legs. Still, most millipedes only have 40 to 400 legs, even at their oldest age.
  
  There is one rare species, though, that has a mahoosive 750 legs! It’s called Illacme plenipes and scientists think it can only be found in a 0.3 square mile are of California in America.
  
  Hope that helps,
  
  Ian
- Mark Hodson answered on 19 Jun 2013:
  
  Not as many as their name suggests. As Jono says numbers of legs range from less than 100 to almost 1000. Apparently the millipede with 750 legs has the most legs of any animal.
  
  cheers
  
  m
- Hannah Brotherton answered on 20 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi harrison123,
  The guys above are right, but having so many legs you would think would make a millipede fast……they are so slow!! whats the point of having so many legs then…..to burrow into the ground, they need the strength of all those legs to dig deep into the ground.
  
  When millipedes are born they are born with very few legs, but as they grow older, they add more parts to there bodies (called segments) with two legs per segment….so they keep sprouting legs. You can tell a millipedes age from the amount of legs it has.
  
  Not sure I would want to keep sprouting legs when I grow up lol
- Daniela Plana answered on 20 Jun 2013:
  
  Hey harrison123!
  
  As everyone has said, although the name should mean “a thousand feet”… they actually have less than that… quite commonly more around hundreds of legs… in other languages they are actually called “centipedes” which means “a hundred feet”… In Spanish for example you’d call it a “cienpies”
  
  Daniela

Question: HOW MANY LEGS DO MILLIPEDES HAVE?

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