I’ve been referred to as “demon droppings”, depicted as the work of witches, trolls, and monsters, and may have been the inspiration for the 1958 horror film The Blob.
I have no arms or legs, but I can move at rates of about 1mm per hour.
I can combine with others to become a single cell with thousands of nuclei, oozing over the ground and engulfing fungi and bacteria.
I have no nose or eyes, but I can detect light and chemical cues from food.
I have no brain, yet I can find the shortest path through a maze, recreate human-designed transport networks, and remember.
I can live freely as a single cell, but when food is scarce I can form multicellular reproductive structures.
I am not a fungus, but I produce spores, out of which microscopic amoeba-like organisms slither.
If I’m cut up into pieces, my pieces can move as individuals and also can fuse back together, sharing what they’ve learned while apart.
I can grow indefinitely with an adequate food supply and a comfortable environment, not aging or dying.
Who am I?
Slime mold!
Likely the early and late stages of Chocolate Tube Slime.
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