A severe 1990 earthquake damaged some of the terraces' irrigation systems, while El Niño triggered droughts that led giant earthworms to erode the terraces' soil.
The New Zealand flatworm Arthurdendyus triangulatus and the Australian flatworm Caenoplana alba have been introduced in the British Isles and are considered to be pest species because they prey upon earthworms and thus may negatively affect soil structure and fertility.
cathartica is also associated with invasive European earthworms (Lumbricus sp.) in the northern Midwest of North America.
Members have also played in the bands Amen Booze Rooster, Blood Feathers, Flip'n Sync, Soophie Nun Squad, William Martyr 17, Revolver Red, The Cannonballs, Hiram Ragan Experience, The Insides, Lazy Fair, The Earthworms, Hundred Years War, Heads Are Heavy, Fuse of Ire, Basil, Stoney Jacksons, Full Service Quartet, Sean Na Na, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Lapse, and Aspera.
Several animal groups studied in Australia consist largely of short-range endemics, including freshwater and terrestrial Gastropods (snails and slugs), earthworms, velvet worms, mygalomorph spiders, schizomids, millipedes, phreatoicidean crustaceans, and freshwater crayfish.
They are omnivorous, but prefer a meat-intensive diet of krill, bloodworms, Daphnia, earthworms and live insects.