Australian Wildfires Couldn't Kill It – This Species Has Evolved to Resist Fire

Slug (scientific name Agriolimax agrestis Linnaeus) is a common name for animals belonging to the Gastropoda class, Opisthobranch order, and Slug family. In some southern regions of China, it is called Yanluo (not Limax), also known as 'nose-sucker', which is a soft-bodied animal and belongs to the Pulmo-bodied group along with some snails. It has both male and female sexes, looks like a snail without a shell, and has a moist body with mucus. The traditional method of killing them by sprinkling salt on their bodies is indeed effective.

There is a pink slug in Australia. It was previously only found on a mountain in Australia. Many people are worried that forest fires have destroyed most of its habitat, which may lead to the extinction of this species. Surprisingly, this slug survived the destructive forest fires.

Slugs usually bury their bodies under moldy leaves during the day, and sometimes come out hundreds of them at night to feed on mold and moss on the trees. Because there are no predators, there is only one species of slug, the giant pink slug, which lives in the huge dead volcano of New South Wales, Australia, and can grow up to 20cm long.

This unique and striking creature only lives on the isolated and inactive volcanic slopes of Kaputa Mountain in New South Wales. This slug is called Kaputa Mountain Slug, and its name comes from the place where it was discovered.

Park rangers at the New South Wales National Park and Wildlife Service discovered approximately 60 Kaputa Mountain slugs alive after the recent rainfall.

Ecologists at Sydney University estimated that approximately 500 million animals in New South Wales were affected by the forest fires.

The Kaputa Mountain Slug is about 20cm long. Before it was identified as a new species in 2013, it was rarely studied. Researchers previously considered it a variant of the Red Triangle Slug found in New South Wales.

'When it comes to slugs, Frank Cole, Senior Research Scientist in Ecology at the Australian Museum, told the media: 'Kaputa National Park is a habitat for about 20 types of slugs and snails, a threatened ecological community. These slugs have evolved abilities to deal with fire, just like many other species. If they encounter a fire, they will retreat into protective cracks, such as rock cracks. Although their main food, fungi and lichens, are affected by the fire, these fungi and lichens will grow back quickly once the fire stops.'

Currently, Kaputa National Park is closed to the public due to the damage caused by forest fires.

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