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 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.