Savannah: Glaciers are majestic. But some of them are full of worms.

Ice worms, cousins of the earthworm, live their entire lives in glaciers. They burrow deep into the ice, possibly to eat bacteria, then they come back to the surface to eat snow algae...which is a thing.

You know how the glaciers are melting? The worms are not helping.

These worms are playing climate-roulette because climate change could mean the destruction of their habitat and the extinction of their species. And they play a small role in that process, though it's like, much smaller than humans' role in climate change.

There are fossil fuels within glaciers. When the worms wiggle around in the ice, they make swirly paths that increase oxygen exposure to the fossil fuels. This increases their breakdown and release into the atmosphere. And fossil fuel breakdown into the atmosphere...contribues to glaciers melting. So, at a *very* small scale, this worm's existence contributes to its own demise.

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