Animal
Giant African millipede
The giant African millipede is a long, shiny millipede with lots of legs. It eats old leaves and rotting plants. When it is scared, it curls up into a ball.
The giant African millipede is one of the largest millipedes in the world, usually 16 to 28 centimeters long. It lives in the lowlands of East Africa, from Kenya to Mozambique, where it eats dead plants and helps turn them back into soil. Like all millipedes, it has two pairs of legs on most body rings and adds rings and legs as it grows.
Archispirostreptus gigas (Spirostreptidae) is among the largest millipedes, typically 16 to 28 centimeters, native to the lowlands of East Africa from Mozambique to Kenya. A detritivore whose hindgut supports methane-producing microbes, it grows by anamorphosis, adding segments at each molt. Many "giant African millipedes" in zoos and the pet trade belong to other species. It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
Photo: Dr Peter James Chisholm, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the giant African millipede
The giant African millipede is a very long millipede.
It is shiny and dark, with a body made of lots of rings. It has hundreds of little legs that move in waves. It is gentle and does not bite.
The giant African millipede is one of the biggest millipedes on Earth. Most grown-ups are 16 to 28 centimeters long, up to about the length of a school ruler. The longest one ever measured, kept by a collector, was 38.7 centimeters long and had 256 legs.
The name millipede means "a thousand feet". Most millipedes have far fewer legs, but in 2021 scientists described a thread-thin millipede from deep underground in Western Australia with 1,306 legs. Millipedes have two pairs of legs on most body rings, which is how you can tell them apart from centipedes, which have one pair per ring. Giant African millipedes have weak jaws and do not bite to defend themselves.
Archispirostreptus gigas belongs to the Spirostreptidae, large cylindrical millipedes of the order Spirostreptida. Guinness World Records gives an average length of 16 to 28 centimeters and a record captive specimen of 38.7 centimeters (6.7 centimeters around, 256 legs); Alvear and colleagues (2026) describe it as the longest millipede in total body length, at up to 30 centimeters.
Diplopods carry two pairs of legs on most body segments (hence "double-limbed"), unlike centipedes. Alvear and colleagues also show that large spirostreptids in US zoos, all called giant African millipedes, include other species such as Spiropoeus fischeri of West and Central Africa, so care is needed with facts gathered from captive animals.
Quick facts
- Group
- Invertebrate
- Length
- 16 to 28 cm
Where it lives
Giant African millipedes live in Africa.
They live in warm places in East Africa. They hide in damp, dark spots, under leaves and near rotting wood.
In the wild, the giant African millipede lives in the lowlands of East Africa, from Kenya south through Tanzania to Mozambique.
Like other big millipedes, it likes warm, dark, damp places on the ground: under leaf litter, in burrows and near rotting wood. Millipedes breathe through tiny holes along the sides of their bodies, so they need damp places, but not flooded ones.
Guinness World Records describes the species as native from Mozambique to Kenya in the lowlands of East Africa, and checklists republished by GBIF list Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. MilliBase, the taxonomic database for millipedes, gives the same three countries (the type locality is in Mozambique), plus Nigeria from a survey of medicinal animals; older records filed under former names add Somalia, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so the edges of the range are uncertain. Several zoo pages instead say West Africa; Alvear and colleagues (2026) explain that many zoo "giant African millipedes" are other species, including the West and Central African Spiropoeus fischeri, which may account for that confusion.
Millipedes breathe through spiracles along the body, which is why they seek warm, dark, humid refuges under litter and near decaying wood (Henry Vilas Zoo). The map shades the three East African countries.
Continent
Did you know?
Giant African millipedes make a gas in their tummies.
Tiny microbes living in a giant African millipede's gut help digest dead plants and make a gas called methane.
A. gigas releases considerable amounts of methane, produced by methanogens in its anoxic gut (Horváthová and colleagues 2021).
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Lowlands of East Africa, from Kenya through Tanzania to Mozambique. It lives only in suitable places within each country shown. Reports of 'giant African millipedes' from West Africa and from zoos often refer to other, similar species.
Places: Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Source: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/504689-largest-millipede-spec · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Tanzania, Kenya, DR Congo, South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Angola, Botswana and 2 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Nature's recyclers
Giant African millipedes eat dead leaves and rotting plants.
Their droppings help new plants grow. They are like tiny recyclers on the forest floor.
Giant African millipedes are detritivores, which means they eat dead and rotting plant material, such as fallen leaves and soft, decaying wood.
By chewing up dead plants, millipedes help break them down. Their droppings work like fertilizer, returning nutrients to the soil so new plants can grow.
A. gigas is a detritivore feeding on decaying plant matter (Buffalo Zoo; Henry Vilas Zoo), and millipede droppings act as fertilizer for plants.
Its digestion relies on microbes. Horváthová and colleagues (2021) found that the midgut and hindgut of A. gigas are strictly anoxic and that this millipede releases considerable amounts of methane, produced by methanogenic archaea in its gut, the final step in the anaerobic breakdown of plant matter.
Did you know?
One very thin millipede has more than a thousand legs!
Millipede means "a thousand feet". In 2021, scientists found the first millipede with more than a thousand: a thread-thin one from deep underground in Australia with 1,306 legs.
Eumillipes persephone, described in 2021 from a borehole in Western Australia, has 1,306 legs: the first millipede known with more than 1,000 (Marek and colleagues 2021).
Rings, legs and a curl
The millipede's body is made of many rings, like a train.
Most rings have four little legs. When it is scared, it curls up into a tight ball.
A giant African millipede's long body is made of many rings, or segments, covered in hard, shiny armor. Most rings carry two pairs of short legs, which ripple along in waves as it walks. Two short antennae at the front help it feel its way, because its eyesight is poor.
When it is threatened, it does not bite. Instead, it curls into a tight coil to protect its soft underside and can ooze a bad-smelling liquid from tiny pores along its sides.
The body is a series of rigid, ring-like segments, most bearing two pairs of legs (diplosegments). The Buffalo Zoo reports 300 to 400 legs in large animals, while the Guinness record specimen had 256; counts vary with size and molt stage. The antennae and legs provide touch, which is important because eyesight is poor (Henry Vilas Zoo).
Defense is passive: the millipede coils with its head protected and releases a foul-smelling secretion from pores along the body; its jaws are too weak to bite in defense. Respiration is through spiracles along the body.
More rings with every molt
A mother millipede lays lots of eggs in a hole in the ground.
The babies hatch small, with only a few legs. Every time they shed their skin, they get more rings and more legs!
To mate, a male millipede wraps around a female. A few weeks later, she lays hundreds of eggs in a hole in the ground. When the babies hatch, they are on their own.
Young millipedes grow in a special way. Every time they molt, shedding their old outer skin, they add new body rings near the tail end, and new legs come with them. So a young millipede has fewer rings and legs than a grown-up.
Zoo accounts describe the male coiling around the female, followed weeks later by a clutch of hundreds of eggs laid in a hole in the ground, with no parental care (Henry Vilas Zoo; these accounts come from captive "giant African millipedes" whose species is not always certain).
Like all millipedes, A. gigas develops by anamorphosis: new segments are added at each molt, formed between the telson and the penultimate segment. Miura and colleagues (University of Tokyo, 2026) used micro-CT on a small Japanese millipede, Niponia nodulosa, to show the epidermis folding inward before a molt to form the new segments. The Henry Vilas Zoo gives life spans of about 5 to 7 years for animals kept under this name.
Slow and gentle
Giant African millipedes walk slowly on their many legs.
They feel their way with their feelers. They like to hide in dark places in the daytime.
Giant African millipedes move slowly and gently, their many legs rippling in waves. Because they cannot see well, they explore with their antennae and legs, using touch, and they can sense smells too.
Big, calm and easy to care for, giant African millipedes are popular animals in zoos and classrooms, where they help people learn about the small animals that keep forests healthy.
Behavior in the wild is poorly documented, and much of what is published comes from captive animals of uncertain identity. Captive millipedes rely on touch through the antennae and legs and sometimes on scent (Henry Vilas Zoo).
Alvear and colleagues (2026) note that large spirostreptids are favored for outreach because of their size, gentle nature and well-established husbandry, and argue that correct species identification matters for permits, care and public education.
Did you know?
A baby millipede gets more legs every time it sheds its skin.
Young millipedes add new body rings, and new legs, each time they molt.
Millipedes develop by anamorphosis, adding segments at each molt between the telson and the penultimate segment.
A common recycler
Giant African millipedes are not in danger in the wild.
They help keep the soil healthy. Leaving old leaves and logs on the ground gives millipedes a home.
The giant African millipede is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, which means it is not considered at risk right now.
Millipedes play an important part in nature as recyclers of dead plants. Many giant millipedes are also kept and bred by people. Because several look-alike species are sold under the same name, scientists are working to identify them correctly.
Archispirostreptus gigas is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (global assessment by Rudolf, Hamer and Hochkirch, 2021). Zoo pages likewise give Least Concern and note that little is known about threats.
Taxonomic confusion in the trade is the main issue scientists raise: Alvear and colleagues (2026) identified one commonly bred zoo species as Spiropoeus fischeri and suggest that several other spirostreptids in zoos remain unidentified.
IUCN Red List
How is the giant african millipede doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
Amazing facts
-
One very thin millipede has more than a thousand legs!
Millipede means "a thousand feet". In 2021, scientists found the first millipede with more than a thousand: a thread-thin one from deep underground in Australia with 1,306 legs.
Eumillipes persephone, described in 2021 from a borehole in Western Australia, has 1,306 legs: the first millipede known with more than 1,000 (Marek and colleagues 2021).
-
A baby millipede gets more legs every time it sheds its skin.
Young millipedes add new body rings, and new legs, each time they molt.
Millipedes develop by anamorphosis, adding segments at each molt between the telson and the penultimate segment.
-
Giant African millipedes make a gas in their tummies.
Tiny microbes living in a giant African millipede's gut help digest dead plants and make a gas called methane.
A. gigas releases considerable amounts of methane, produced by methanogens in its anoxic gut (Horváthová and colleagues 2021).
Words to know
- millipede
- a long animal with many body rings and two pairs of legs on most rings
- detritivore
- an animal that eats dead plants and other dead material
- segment
- one of the rings that make up a millipede's body
- molt
- to shed an old outer skin so the body can grow
- antenna
- a feeler on an animal's head used to touch and smell
- decomposer
- a living thing that helps break down dead plants and animals
Discovery challenge
-
What does a giant African millipede eat?
What kind of food does a giant African millipede eat?
Which feeding category describes A. gigas?
- Dead leaves and rotting plants
- Small fish
- Other millipedes
Show the answer
Dead leaves and rotting plants
It eats dead leaves and rotting plants.
It is a detritivore that eats dead and decaying plants.
Detritivore: it feeds on decaying plant matter.
-
What does a millipede do when it is scared?
How does a giant African millipede protect itself?
What is the main defense of A. gigas?
- It curls into a ball
- It bites hard
- It flies away
Show the answer
It curls into a ball
It curls up into a tight ball.
It curls into a coil and can ooze a bad-smelling liquid; its jaws are too weak to bite.
Coiling plus a foul-smelling secretion from pores along the body.
-
How does a young millipede get more legs?
How does a young millipede gain more body rings and legs?
By what developmental mode do millipedes add segments?
- It adds rings each time it molts
- It grows them overnight
- It borrows them from its mom
Show the answer
It adds rings each time it molts
Every time it sheds its skin, it gets more rings and legs.
New rings, with new legs, are added at the tail end each time it molts.
Anamorphosis: segments are added at each molt between the telson and the penultimate segment.
-
How many legs do most millipede rings have?
How many pairs of legs are on most of a millipede's body rings?
How many leg pairs does a typical diplopod trunk segment bear?
- Two pairs
- One pair
- None
Show the answer
Two pairs
Most rings have two pairs: four little legs.
Two pairs on most rings; centipedes have one pair per ring.
Two pairs per diplosegment, hence Diplopoda, 'double-limbed'.
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
Kenya
Kenya is a country in East Africa, crossed by the equator. It has the snow-capped Mount Kenya, the deep Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria and a long Indian Ocean coast, and about 54 million people live there, many of them speaking Swahili.
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Watch
Country
Tanzania
Tanzania is a country in East Africa, just south of the Equator, on the Indian Ocean. It has Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, deep lakes in the East African Rift, and the Serengeti, where huge herds of wildebeest travel each year.
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Watch
Country
Mozambique
Mozambique stretches along the Indian Ocean coast of southeastern Africa. The great Zambezi River cuts through its middle, its beaches face the island of Madagascar, and parks like Gorongosa are home to elephants and lions. About 35.6 million people lived there in 2025, and Portuguese is the official language.
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Mozambique
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain what a detritivore is and why recyclers matter in nature.
- Tell millipedes apart from centipedes by counting legs per body ring.
- Describe how millipedes grow by adding segments when they molt.
- Discuss why animals in the pet trade are sometimes misidentified.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- What would happen to a forest floor if no animals ate dead leaves?
- Why might it be hard to know which species of millipede a zoo has?
- Why do you think a millipede curls up instead of running away?
Try at home or in class
- With an adult, gently turn over a log or a pile of damp leaves and count the small decomposers you find; put everything back carefully.
- Measure 28 centimeters on a ruler, then lay out 256 paper clips or dots in two rows to picture the record millipede's legs.
Key vocabulary: millipede, detritivore, segment, molt, antenna, decomposer
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Largest millipede species , Guinness World Records
- Identification of Spiropoeus fischeri Brandt, 1833 from captive bred millipedes in zoos (Alvear and colleagues, 2026) , Biodiversity Data Journal (full text via Europe PMC)
- Giant African Millipede , Henry Vilas Zoo
- Giant African Millipede , Buffalo Zoo
- Methanogenesis in the digestive tracts of the tropical millipedes Archispirostreptus gigas and Epibolus pulchripes (Horváthová and colleagues, 2021) , Applied and Environmental Microbiology (PubMed abstract)
- Three-Dimensional Elucidation of Segment Addition in Millipedes (press release, 13 January 2026) , Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo
- Archispirostreptus gigas in the IUCN Red List checklist (global category Least Concern) and other checklists , GBIF
- The first true millipede: 1306 legs long (Marek and colleagues, 2021) , Scientific Reports
- Archispirostreptus gigas (Peters, 1855): taxon details and distribution , MilliBase
- A revision of the taxonomy and distribution of Archispirostreptus (Mwabvu and colleagues, 2010; first pages) , Zootaxa 2567 (Magnolia Press)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.