These Giant Pink Love Slugs Can Only Be Found On A Volcano In Australia
February 22, 2018
If you're ever exploring Mount Kaputar, an extinct volcano in New South Wales, Australia, you might be lucky enough to see a giant hot pink slug.
Photo credit: Michael Murphy / NPWS
Australia’s National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger Michael Murphy says the colorful critter is actually its own species.
“Recent morphological and genetics work by a researcher working on this slug family — the Athorcophoridae — has indicated the Kaputar slugs are a unique species endemic to Mount Kaputar and the only representative of this family in inland Australia,” said Murphy.
Photo credit: Michael Murphy / NPWS
The high altitude slugs grow to about 20 centimeters (8 inches) in length.
Murphy says on mornings after rain you can sometimes see hundreds of pink slugs making their way back down the trees after a night foraging for lichen and moss.
Photo credit: Michael Murphy / NPWS
"It's just one of those magical places, especially when you are up there on a cool, misty morning," said Murphy.
"It's a tiny island of alpine forest, hundreds of kilometres away from anything else like it. The slugs, for example, are buried in the leaf mould during the day, but sometimes at night they come out in their hundreds and feed off the mould and moss on the trees. They are amazing, unreal-looking creatures."
Photo credit: K J Lowe / ABC.net.au
Why are they bright pink?
"There's one idea that the pink color camouflages them against the colour of fallen snow gum leaves on the forest floor," Murphy said. "But then again they spend a lot of their time way up in the canopy nowhere near the floor... so it might just be that if you're a giant slug way up on an isolated mountain top, you can be whatever color you like."
Click Here For The Most Popular On Sunny Skyz
These Cat Reactions To Owners Calling Them Through Security Cameras Are Absolutely Hilarious
Kentucky Nurse Saves Drunk Raccoon With CPR After Dumpster Mishap
Shoulder Labrum Tear Symptoms And The Causes Behind Them
'Everyone Gets A Kick Out Of It': Baby Born At McDonald’s Parking Lot Has Perfect Nickname
The Mechanical Nurse At Guy’s Hospital Is Equal Parts Creepy And Brilliant
Dad And His Dog Share Breakfast Together Every Morning — And It’s The Sweetest Routine
Epic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Flashmob Takes Over the Streets of Paris
Texas Cheerleaders Perform Emotional 9/11 Tribute That Brings Crowd To Tears
Honey Badger Picks Fight With Elephant, Gets Hilariously Booted Away
Tiny Soccer Rivals Choose Hugs Over Competition
Parents Surprise Daughter On Her First Day At Work — And It’s The Sweetest Thing