About 12,000 species of slow-moving arthropods with two pairs of legs on most body segments. Most eat decaying leaves and dead plant matter, and many defend themselves by curling up and releasing chemicals from pores along their sides. Despite the name, only one species has over 1,000 legs.
Quick answers
What is it?Myriapod
Carnivore?No, herbivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Sometimes
Larger millipedes, such as giant African species, are popular pets.
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
ColoursBlack, Brown, Red
SizeTiny
LengthLargest modern species 27–38 cm
Legs200
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives alone
Lives for5–10 years
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Worldwide.
- What it eats
- Mostly decaying leaves and other dead plant matter; some eat fungi or plant fluids.
Did you know
One of the first animals to live on land, over 425 million years ago.
Eumillipes persephone, discovered in 2020, can have over 1,300 legs.
The extinct Arthropleura, an early millipede, grew over 2 m long, the largest known land invertebrate.
Often confused with
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