SearchIt’s not a plant, an animal or a fungus? It has no mouth, but it can find and digest food. It can move and also heal itself if it is damaged and it can learn to go around a barrier if necessary.
It is in the news this week as specimens have been specially grown in petri dishes and put on display at the Zoological Park in the Paris Museum of Natural History. This particular “Blob” is said to creep along at about one and a half inches (4 cm) and prefers a meal of oatmeal.
It’s nickname is the “Blob,” but it is actually a slime mold called Physarum polycephalum.
Slime molds are interesting organisms. They are described in a Popular Science article: “What has hundreds of sexes and excels at math? This is Slime Molds 101.” Rachel Feltman’s article is both funny and informative.
There are more than 900 species of slime molds and you may be lucky enough to spot one growing in damp woodland on bark or leaf mold.
