Last year’s rainy winter proved to be an exciting time for mushrooms. Instead of wildflowers, mushrooms became my passion. Armed with a few books, I set out to identify the different kinds of mushrooms and took numerous pictures. I soon found that Sunset Valley in Davy Brown was an excellent place to find mushrooms—very large mushrooms!—under oak tree litter and along the streams.
Another excellent spot was on my neighbor’s property a few miles away, near Bierbent Creek. To my amazement, while searching for mushrooms, I discovered a bright yellow banana slug munching on a mushroom!
In doing research I have since learned that mushrooms are the banana slug’s favorite food. I think they are particular as to the type of mushroom they eat. Just as people have learned to be selective while harvesting mushrooms to eat, I believe the slug has learned this skill too.
From the photo below you can see that the banana slug has two pairs of tentacles. The larger, upper pair called “eyestalks” can detect light or movement; the second smaller set can detect chemicals. These tentacles can be retracted to avoid damage, just as the slug can stretch its body to a length of nine inches to cover distance and shrink itself down to three inches long while eating or for protection. When a slug is stretched out and moving, it is easy to see, but when shrunk to their minimum size they blend in with leaves and seem to disappear before your eyes.
A banana slug lives in slime. It excretes a slime which allows respiration to partially occur on its skin. Slug slime attracts mates. Slime also provides locomotion for the slug and is an anesthetic which deters predators. Slime also keeps the slug from drying out, as it doesn’t have a shell to protect it.
Banana slugs are herbivores, or decomposers. They eat leaves, dead plant material, and animal droppings, which are recycled into soil humus that is rich in nitrogen. In this way slugs are an important aspect of the ecosystem.
In hot and dry or very cold weather, banana slugs secrete a protective layer of mucus, insulate themselves with a layer of soil and leaves, and remain inactive until the environment is hospitable again.
So after the next rain, take an early morning walk down Davy Brown Trail. You just may see a banana slug crossing the trail.
Exercise is great, but when out in nature take in your surroundings while you walk. It’s easy to discover something new and interesting.
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