Answer: Australia

There are big earthworms, like the kind popular among fisherman for luring in picky fish, and then there are big earthworms, like the kind found in Australia that are long enough to wrap around a man’s waist.

The giant Gippsland earthworm (Megascolides australis) is, without contest, the largest earthworm species on the planet. The average length of the giant worms is 3.3 feet long and they can reach up to 9.8 feet in length (due to their body’s ability to expand and contract).

The giant worms live in the subsoil of clay soils along stream banks and some southern or western facing hills in Gippsland, located in Victoria, Australia. The species is increasingly rare and now classified as a threatened species due to the effects of farming combined with their low reproductive rate and slow maturation.