Watch Worms Build ‘Living Towers’ With Their Bodies to Survive in the Wild

Scientists have finally caught worms in the wild doing something they’d only ever seen in the lab: stacking themselves into swaying towers to hitch rides to find a better home and food.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, led by Serena Ding and Daniela Perez, publishing their work in Cell, placed digital microscopes over decaying apples and pears near Germany’s University of Konstanz and watched as Caenorhabditis nematodes worked together to make a break for it.

Specifically, they documented the worms in their “dauer” phase, wherein a worm enters a state of stasis that enables it to survive harsher conditions than usual.

Worms Filmed Building ‘Living Towers’ With Their Bodies in World First

In these rough conditions, the worms stack their bodies vertically, stre