Small, grey armoured tanks

Woodlice are some of the most common creatures that you’ll find under stones and bark. They look a lot like small, grey armoured tanks when they crawl around and over each other. There are many species in Denmark, and you can easily find four or five different ones under the same piece of bark.

If you turn over a woodlouse and count its legs, you’ll be in for a surprise. It has 14! Which means that it isn’t an insect (six legs) or a spider (eight legs), it’s not even a millipede or a centipede (more than 30 legs). Woodlice are crustaceans! They are in the same group as shrimp, krill and sandhoppers – they’re aquatic animals that have moved to the land.

Sometimes you might find woodlice that are a very lovely blue or purple colour. They look quite tropical, but actually they have been infected with a virus that turns them blue. The disease is incurable in woodlice  but isn’t dangerous for humans.