How can small bugs and worms live under heavy rocks and other large objects without getting crushed?
In: Biology
Nothing in nature is perfect. I say that to convey that the contact between Earth and the rock is not perfect. There are natural gaps in the union that allow some insects to walk under it freely. The insects and worms also burrow under the rock making their own cavities to move freely through. The rocks also have a much larger surface area than the insect/worm so even if the rock settles a little bit the whole weight isn’t pushing on the insect or worm. That’s why you can jump up and down on a rock and then roll it over and find beetles and worms perfectly healthy and willing to scurry away from you.
Typically because underneath the heavy rock is something softer that they can take though.
If you put a worm on hard concrete, and then places a heavy rock on top of it, the worm would get crushed.
But. You place the warm on comparatively soft dirt, and then put the rock on it, the worm is pushed down into the dirt and then crawls into it, so in this case the weight of the rock isn’t on the insect, it’s on all of the dirt. That the insects then dig tunnels through/crawl through.
Because the objects don’t sit perfectly flat on a surface. The weight of the rock is supported by the higher points in the dirt, while the insects, worms, etc. move in the crevices under or dig their own channel.
They just burrow the dirt out from under the object because it is softer than the rock, and since the weight of the rock can be supported by the surface area – what the bug/worm displaces it won’t shift the soil to crush it.
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