Okay, so I may have lied in my headline: scientists haven’t discovered a sea slug that produces DNA-altering stem cells that grant humans special powers, AKA ADAM in the Bioshock series. I apologize.
But this is still pretty cool.
On Mount Kaputar in New South Wales, Australia, there exists an area only about 10 km by 10 km on the mountaintop, described as “a magical place” when the air is cool and misty. It’s a small forest home to glowing pink slugs and carnivorous land snails.
The slugs, as you can see, are fluorescent pink, dubbed Triboniophorus aff. graeffei. While locals and others who have visited the mountaintop are familiar with the strange slugs and other invertebrates there, it’s only been recently that scientists have identified the creatures.
“Locals had long reported seeing bizarre pink slugs after rainfall in the area…”
They’ve also listed the site as an “endangered ecological community,” hoping to protect the ecosystem and its unique life from human interference.
If you want to read a little more on how these animals came to be where they are (hint: they were spared by a volcano eruption!), check out The Age @ One will really amaze you, the other just eats his mates.
