Paris zoo unveils the ‘blob’ – creepy shuffling organism with no brain and 720 different sexes
A FRENCH zoo has unveiled a mysterious new creature – a yellowish hunk of gunk dubbed “the blob”.
The creepy organism has no mouth, no stomach, no eyes, yet it can detect food and digest it, and is even “able to learn”, according to experts.
The blob also has almost 720 sexes, can move without legs or wings and heals itself in two minutes if cut in half.
Unveiled by the Paris Zoological Park on Wednesday, it’s a small living being which looks like a fungus but acts like an animal.
The gloop goes on display this Saturday as part of a new exhibit at the zoo.
“The blob is a living being which belongs to one of nature’s mysteries”, said Bruno David, director of the Paris Museum of Natural History, of which the Zoological Park is part.
“It surprises us because it has no brain but is able to learn (…) and if you merge two blobs, the one that has learned will transmit its knowledge to the other,” David added.
The blob was named after a 1958 science-fiction horror B-movie, starring a young Steve McQueen.
During the retro flick, an alien life form – The Blob – consumes everything in its path in a small Pennsylvania town.
Much like its Hollywood counterpart, the real blob shrouded in mystery as scientists can’t quite figure out whether it’s a fungus, animal, or something else.
“We know for sure it is not a plant but we don’t really if it’s an animal or a fungus,” David said.
“It behaves very surprisingly for something that looks like a mushroom (…) it has the behaviour of an animal, it is able to learn.”
While it may look like alien goo, the blob is actually a type of slime mould. Specifically, it’s an organism known as Physarum polycephalum.
It eats tiny microorganisms that live in any type of dead plant material.
Slime mould – key facts
Here's what you need to know...
- There are hundreds of species of slime mould found across the world
- They like moist environments like gardens, air vents and rain gutters
- Slime moulds prefer to live solitary lives as single cells
- But when times get tough they bond together to form large gelatinous slimes
- Slime moulds eat microorganisms that feed off of dead plant life
- As a result, they’re happiest on a rotting log or in a pile of leaves
As such, the blob is commonly found in gardens and on forest floors, and in particular likes to hang around on rotting logs.
Hundreds of slime mould species are known, and they’re found in moist environments across the globe.
Like many fungi, the blob has hundreds of sexes that can all mate with one another.
This is due to the special way in which they sexually reproduce.
In other animal news, pig hearts could be used in human transplants within just three years, according to an expert surgeon.
Scientists have discovered why two shark species glow in the dark.
And, the world’s oldest freshwater fish lived to 112 years old – and was swimming before Titanic and World War I.
What do you make of the blob? Let us know in the comments…
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk