11/08/07 Giant Spitting Worm

Scotland can keep their Loc Ness monster. Here in the Northwest we have something far more mystifying even terrifying and we have a confirmed sighting as recent as 2005 by a U of I researchers to boot. This my friends would be the three-foot long, giant spitting Palouse earthworm. Once abundant until around the late 1800's, environmentalist blame agriculture for bringing this monster worm to what they believe today is the brink of extinction so conservation groups are currently filing suit to seek endangered species protection. Watch out wheat farmers! Your land could be designated prime "giant spitting worm" habitat! The worm's name in Latin means "lily-like" for the creatures uncanny ability to emit a sweet flowery odor. The stuff of legends, the giant Palouse earthworm resides in burrows 15 feet or more deep and when caught above ground can move with remarkable speed and&. has been known to spit at attackers. A sweet smelling three foot long spitting worm, imagine the fish you could catch with that!