How Many Legs Does a Millipede Have?

Video Transcript

"The question is how many legs does a millipede have? A millipede gets it's name from the Latin terms of milli which means a thousand and pede which means foot. And so thousand foot is the millipede's translation. They actually don't have a thousand legs or a thousand feet. The millipede is unique because it has two pairs of legs per segment. Not every segment has two pairs, specifically the front and the rear but most of the segments have two pairs of legs. So four legs per segment. It depends on the species. There are many, many types of millipedes. Anywhere from having 40 legs to 400 legs. There is one species that has up to 750 legs. So none of them have a thousand legs, even though their name is thousand feet. And so it depends on the species and the name is kind of a misnomer because it leads you to believe that but watching them walk you would think that they would have many more legs than they actually do. Millipedes versus centipede. Centipedes have one pair of legs per segment and millipedes have two pairs of legs per segment. Also millipedes are thought to be pretty much harmless where centipedes have pincers in their head and can sting and bite and actually can be considered quite dangerous if you have an allergic reaction to them."