Watch: Freaky slime mold pulsates as spores spread in Alaska national park
Pulsating 'dog vomit slime mold' found growing in Alaska state park
Here is a detailed close-up video of slime mold. The yellow slime mold pulses grows and shrinks while surrounding and covering lichen and spruce bark at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. (Credit: Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve)
It's weirdly alive and beautifully vibrant, but its name might have you turning pale in the face.
The scientific name is Fuligo septica, but who can remember that? You can also call it by its nickname of dog vomit slime mold or scrambled egg slime.
"Well, there goes my lunch," said Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in a Facebook post along with a time-lapse video spanning about two hours of the slime mold in real-time.
Slime molds are a collection of single-celled organisms that move together in search of nutrients. They eat bacteria and appear on dead and decaying logs in Glacier Bay's Alaskan rainforest ecosystem during the summer.
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For a sense of scale, this patch of slime mold surrounding and covering lichen and spruce bark was about 3 x 4 inches. (Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve)
After watching the weirdly entertaining and mesmerizing video above, you might be asking yourself why no one is keeping an eye on that thing before it crawls out of sight.
"While lacking feet, slime molds like this one can move inches, if not feet, per day through the forest by spreading their spores," park rangers said.
For a sense of scale, this patch of slime mold surrounding and covering lichen and spruce bark was about 3 x 4 inches. The entire slime mold was about 10 x 5 inches in a rectangular blob shape, rangers said.