r/todayilearned • u/mvincen95 • 1d ago

TIL that despite their name, it is biologically impossible for a centipede to be born with exactly 100 legs because a genetic quirk dictates they always have an odd number of leg pairs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede
16.1k Upvotes

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171

u/Normal_Measurement_4 1d ago

Um .... 50 pairs of legs and 1 pair of arms. Duh!

22

u/Sideways_X1 1d ago

49 leg pairs plus arm pair?

3

u/JonatasA 22h ago

What throws me off in spiders. Always that extra pair.

1

u/SaltyPeter3434 22h ago

It's a good thing there's a "buy 49 pants get 1 free" special happening now

-28

u/SOLUNAR 1d ago

That’s still even ;)

14

u/Imaginary_Zone_4319 1d ago

It’s an odd number of pairs. So whatever odd number, 2x it.

-6

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

7

u/meowmicks222 1d ago

Please tell me what odd number equals 100 when doubled

-4

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

6

u/Imaginary_Zone_4319 1d ago

The OP title says they always have an odd number of leg pairs. A leg pair is 2 legs. That’s why you multiply their number of leg pairs by 2 to get their total number of legs, which will always be an even number.

2

u/stefan92293 1d ago

Did you not read the post?

You clearly didn't.

23

u/klowt 1d ago

51 is not an even number. Even if its an amount of pairs.

-27

u/TheGaslighter9000X 1d ago

“odd number of parts” so your argument doesn’t stand.

23

u/klowt 1d ago

Odd number of pairs, not parts. 

Username checksout

4

u/predictingzepast 1d ago

Right, which is the one we're going for here..