How do birds know where in the earth to peck at a worm?
610952
Birds hear a lot better than we do, and worms moving around in soil make noise that is distinctive. OR, maybe they have Xray vision! :-)
423334
worms like to come to the surface when its wet , not because they are drowning, but because its moist and they find mates.  Earth worms are hermaphrodites, and they lines up with each other with lots of slime and fertiliz each other.Once they are done they go back down burrows and deposit egg sac.
1155338
It's 100% natural born instinct.  God put it there, not the bird's momma.  They are not show where to go, they are born knowing it.  Like the sea turtles.
491831
Most worms don't realy have a brain. They have nerve ganglia in their heads but they are too simple to be considered brains. The only worms that have what could be considered real brains are the acorn worms.\n\nCan they feel? Well they can sense, which is to say they can move towards food and away form some danger. But cabbages can do that as well. They can't feel in the sense that humans and other mammals can feel. They are not self aware and they can't feel pain, anxiety, joy and so forth
587804
That's hard, not sure. Just to guess depending on the species, a bat would tell time from photosensitivity as an example. Most birds may tell time the same or according to temperature changes. Now i'm gonna guess stupid, but i think fish tell time due to gravitational forces of the tide according with the moon. Someone debated me on that one before and said "What if the moon isn't out?"  My response was that the moon is omnipresent orbiting the Earth; thing is, its simply in another hemisphere.  As I said, not sure, just guesses.  Perhaps physicist Steven Hawking thought about that at one point...lol.
434100
Birds have ears, however they do not stick out like ours. Birds will die anywhere. If they all went somewhere special there would be an enormous pile of dead birds somewhere and I have not yet heard of "Dead Bird Mountain".
305646
It's impossible to identify the worm from that description.  There are a number of options.\n\nHowever, my best guess is that it is a horsehair worm.  Horsehair worms are rather fascinating creatures, possibly responsible for inspiring the film "Alien".  Adult worms live in water where they lay their eggs.  The eggs hatch into larvae, who make their way to an appropriate place to be eaten!  Once an insect (usually a grasshopper or a relative, such as cockroaches) eats them, they crawl out of it's digestive system and live in it's abdomen, growing every larger.  When they become adults, they secrete a chemical, causing the insect to get very thirsty.  It rushes to the nearest body of water, where the horsehair worm tears it's way out of the insects stomach and into the water, where it looks for another horsehair worm so it can start the whole process over again.
403401
Worms are out in the morning because the ground/grass is more likely to be wet/damp.  Worms seek a moist/wet environment.  Just like when it rains you will see worms out on the sidewalk.
445484
They are likely following air currents-Flies dont think about where they are going-they dont really "think" at all, in terms of making decisions.  THey just have simple reactions to ari currents, heat, light, and chemical sensations (food)-If they are circling, its because there are air current moving in a circular motion, and they are following those.
942221
From Minnesota Department of Natural Resources:\n\n"An owl's big eyes let in a lot of light so it can see better in the dark than we can. <and other birds, too.>\n\nMost birds have eyes on the sides of their head, but an owl's eyes point straight ahead like ours to help it judge distance."\n\nFrom Carolina Biological Supply:\n\n"owls can turn their heads around far enough to see directly behind them. The total range of head rotation for most owl species is an amazing 270 degrees."\n\nThey also have more information about the make-up of the owl eyes at that site, as well.
1086852
It is hard-wired into their brains but the younger birds start out by following their parents south and if birds are taken out of the wild at a young age and have never migrated a small glider type plane can be flown the the birds will follow so it can be learned too.
392362
Termites & bugs inhabit old dead trees.\n\nBirds eat the insects.
163415
If by "red worms" you mean earthworms of the species Eisenia foetida (commonly used for composting), they mostly eat any plant or animal particulate matter that is small enough to enter their mouths; other species (including another common earthworm of genus Lumbricus) can use their sucker-like mouth to ingest relatively large pieces of food. They also ingest live microorganisms along with the detritus. \nEarthworms are part of the soil mesofauna, and usually they don't feed on whole plant parts (such as leaves) but rather on small pieces of particulate matter that have already been generated by other animals of the macro- and mesofauna, especially plant residues (coffee grounds and tea leaves included). They ingest these along with soil inorganic particles (that's why they are important for mixing and carrying organic matter into deeper soil layers).
780628
How does an earthworm eat? Earthworms eat by pulling food into their mouth with their prostomium combined with the muscular pharynx which creates a very high suction (like a vacuum). The food is stored in the crop and then ground up into small digestible pieces in the gizzard. Earthworms need a gizzard because they do not have any teeth. The nutrients are absorbed into the body in the small intestine. \nEarthworms probably feed while they are moving. They are not picky eaters as they will eat all sorts of dead things such as decaying plant and animal matter. They consume a great deal of matter in a short period of time - they can produce their own weight in castings (worm dung) every 24 hours!
1095883
many have different types of wings and flying habits depending on how they gather food, eg humming birds are the only birds that can fly backwards to get out of flowers, some have eyes on either side of their heads to see virtually 360 degrees, other hunting birds - owl, hawk etc have eyes in the front to give them depth perception, others like the penguin have special feathers to prevent them from freezing and their wings are more like flippers to help them move through the water
19027
I think the scientific explanation is that this is a behavior trait that is hard-wired into their brains through the wonders of natural selection.  When animals are born (including people), their brains (and actually their entire physical bodies) are pre-programmed to do certain things.  They eat when they're hungry.  They "feel" hunger when they haven't eaten in a while.  They run when they're scared.  They feel scared when they see, smell, hear, or feel certain types of things.  Their hearts beat.  Their eyes blink.  They sleep when they're tired.  Having these characteristics gave them the ability to survive as a species and be around today to be observed by us.  Animals who had hearts that didn't "know" to beat automatically didn't last long.\n\nSo flying south for the winter is an instinct that allowed birds to survive.  The many birds who lacked that instinct had more difficulty surviving.
3708
ants navigate and communicate largely by sense of smell.  they leave behind chemical markers that signify certain things - "food this way" or "danger" or whatever.  (this can be tested by you!  if you find an ant trail, put down a piece of paper and the ants will be lost!  eventually they'll make a new trail across the paper - which you can then move and manipulate where they go.)  \n\nthe antennae on their heads are their smell organs - so when they meet, the two ants communicate by smelling each other - kinda like dogs.