Day 252: You're going to have to work really hard to convince me that Fuligo septica didn't follow me home from work on my boots. For several years now, I've been watching it come and go to the base of a tree outside Tobin Resource Center, taking pictures of it when it was in its reproductive stage as it is here, walking through its line of travel. When I threw back my curtains this morning and looked out across the yard, the first words I spoke on seeing a yellow patch covering the decaying stump of the Whatzit Tree were, "Is that a slime mold?" It was not there yesterday. Slime molds, as my regular readers should know by now, are neither plant nor animal but exhibit characteristics of both. They are capable of locomotion, communication and cooperation, living most of their lives as single, disparate organisms but coming together when a food source is located, there to reproduce. Size-wise, this is an impressive specimen. Now I'm wondering: should I be nervous?
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