A Trick or a Treat?

Certainly NOT a treat, although its name – chocolate slime mold – would suggest one. However, it was an eye-catching treat to find this wispy-haired beast lurking on a rotting log in the October woods.

Resembling Sesame Street character Snuffleupagus in miniature form, it is actually not an animal, but a fungus. The trick lies in its appearance of flowing “hairs,” when in fact they aren’t hairs, but tubular stalks (or fruiting bodies) enclosing the spores. When dried, gusts of wind and this mysterious creature work together to lift and distribute its spores to other corners of the woodland, destined to continue the process of decay.

Fungi like this slime mold occupy an important role in our ecosystems. They help decompose and recycle nutrients, making important food sources available for other plants and animals to survive.