Banana slugs!
They're delicious and full of potassium.
Oh, wait, never mind.
They're gastropods.
Slimy yellow gastropods that are adorable, spotty, sticky, and...
Did I already say slimy?
They're really slimy!
Hi, I'm Danielle Dufault, and you're watching Animalogic.
Today, we're gonna go exploring deep in the rainforest of Pacific Rim National Park.
I'm really hoping to find some banana slugs.
Let's go see.
No, I promise I won't lick the slugs.
I promise.
Gotta leave those slugs alone, they don't deserve that.
We're looking for some banana slugs.
So I'm down low to the ground,
flipping some rocks and some leaves, but it's surprisingly tough to spot them.
Even though they are bright yellow like a banana.
Oh, they're actually kind of hard to find.
All this decaying leaf litter is also kind of a yellow-greeny tinge.
So turns out, it's pretty good camouflage.
So far, all we've managed to find are the highly invasive Black Slugs.
These guys are all over the place.
Get along now little sluggy.
I've always wanted to find a banana slug.
So I'm really hoping we can find something.
Stay low to the ground, and try not to fall.
Here we go!
I finally found one.
This is a banana slug.
Banana slugs are North American terrestrial slugs in the genus Ariolimax.
Species include the California banana slug, the Pacific banana slug, and the slender banana slug.
But why are they called banana slugs?
The answer may actually surprise you.
Just kidding, it's because they look like bananas.
This one's more green than yellow and has very few of those dark brown spots on him.
Guess you could say he's fresh.
While my new friend looks a bit green, he's not sick or anything.
Banana slugs come in a variety of colours, from bright yellow, to green, brown, tan, even white!
Some have so many dark spots, they appear black.
Like, this is kind of how I like my bananas.
With like, lots of brown spots, so they end up being a little sweeter.
I need to stop thinking about bananas because this is a slug and I don't want to eat it.
You can find banana slugs on forest floors along North America's Pacific Coast.
The perfect forest for a banana slug is moist, cool,
and densely packed with coniferous trees, like California Redwoods and Douglas Firs.
If you do come across a banana slug, please don't touch it with your bare hands.
Doing so can remove their slime,
which makes it harder for them to get around and keep themselves hydrated.
This is definitely the biggest slug that I've ever seen.
Banana slugs are Kaiju sized.
As far as banana slugs go, this guy is actually just a wee little fella.
They can grow up to about seven inches long, which is longer than my hands.
An average banana slug may only measure seven inches, or 18 centimetres,
but the big boys can measure well over 20 centimetres in length,
which makes them the second largest terrestrial slug in the world.
It's the biggest one that I've seen so far.
Check him out.
Such a cute little guy.
If you're thinking bigger means faster, think again.
Banana slugs can only cover 15 centimetres per minute.
That's nine metres every hour, which makes these gastropods one of the slowest animals on Earth.
Since it's given us such a great view of his face, let's talk about it a little bit.
He's got two sets of tentacles, the ocular tentacles on top, reaching out and feeling around.
And the sensory tentacles just below that.
They use these to feel and smell.
This fleshy part at the front of the slug is called the mantle.
It serves to protect the genital and anal pores,
which are much further up on the slug than you might expect.
Banana slugs have not one, but two ways to breathe.
Through gas exchange with their mucous membrane covering their entire body,
but also through this little hole that you might see on its right side.
That's called a pneumostome, and they can expand and contract this organ
to allow air in, which gives it access to breathe in its single lung.
Banana slugs only have a pneumostome on their right side.
This is a relic of their snaily ancestors.
The pneumostome blows air in and out of the slug's single lung.
The slug can open or close the hole depending on the weather
and the slug's hydration and oxygen levels.
Yeah, just a little sluggy blowhole.
All the way around the bottom of the slug is this cute little frilly line.
That's called the skirt,
and that consists of muscle bands that help to pull it along, along the ground.
And that's how it moves.
Right under the slug's front sensory tentacles is its mouth.
Now inside of his mouth, he has what you call a radula, which is kind of like a grinding surface.
The radula is somewhat like a sharp raspy tongue, which is covered in rows and rows of about
27,000 microscopic teeth, which are continually breaking off and being replaced by new rows.
So it slowly rasps away with those tiny little rows of teeth
on whatever it's eating, this leaf for example.
These teeth grind up food and move it towards the slug's stomach.
Just to reiterate, Banana Slugs can have up to 27,000 teeth!
Great White Sharks only have 300.
I'm thinking they should remake Jaws, but with the clearly-much-scarier Banana Slugs playing Bruce.
Hello.
Oh, he's reaching for me.
Oh, he's going to get me.
He's going to rasp me.
But I don't have anything to worry about.
Banana slugs are mostly herbivorous.
They'll eat plants, leaves, stems, seeds, spores, flowers, fungi, and fruit.
They'll also dine on feces and animal carcasses.
Not exactly a picky eater.
After the slug processes its food, it recycles the nutrients back into the soil.
Just doing its part to help the ecosystem.
Banana slugs are mostly out and about at night, or on cool, moist days.
With no shell to hide in, they are always in danger of drying up.
Luckily, they're equipped with slime.
Precious, precious slime.
This thick, sticky mucus helps the slug keep hydrated because it actually attracts water.
Mucus granules emerge from the slug's skin cells, then pop open and absorb water and nutrients.
One mucus granule can absorb 100 times its own volume.
The mucus also helps them move, working as a sort of lubricant
that allows them to glide smoothly over the rough terrain of the forest floor.
And it acts as an adhesive.
They use it to stick to steep surfaces
and even hang upside down from their very own slime threads.
Spider slugs!
Slime is actually the banana slug's greatest defense against hungry predators.
This slug is targeted by all kinds of animals,
including small mammals, snakes, salamanders, birds, and shrews.
When they're attacked, they produce extra slime,
which contains an anesthetic that can numb the predator's mouth and create a foul taste.
Slime is also helpful when it comes time to reproduce.
Holy god, there's two of them!
What?!
Where'd the second one come from?
As banana slugs move slowly through the forest,
they leave slime trails, which give off pheromones that other sexy slugs can follow.
When unfurled, the male phallus can stretch the slug's full body length.
Like many other mollusks, banana slugs are hermaphrodites,
which means that this banana slug can mate with any other banana slug.
When they meet, the slug lovers will court each other by swiping their tails,
nipping, and lunging.
Other mating rituals include eating each other's
slime and wrapping themselves in a sort of nuptial bed of slime.
Slime, slime, slime.
Banana slugs will lay 20 to 30 small eggs,
which spend the winter in the ground and hatch the following spring.
Baby slugs will leave the nest to find their own territory that offers food and shelter.
If they can manage to keep moist
and ward off their enemies, banana slugs can live up to seven years.
Keep on sliming little big guys.
So what should we talk about next?
Please let me know in the comments and be sure to
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Thanks for watching, see ya.
Well, I know you have black in your mouth.
Your lips are black.
Oh, no.
I'm feeling kind of funny.
Wait, you don't, you don't look so good.
Well, why are there five of you?
What have you done to me?