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Name : Mount Kaputar pink slug ( Triboniophorus sp . nov . ' Kaputar’orTriboniophorus aff . graeffei )
Where it survive : Mount Kaputar , New South Wales , Australia
Mount Kaputar pink slugs were almost wiped out by wildfires in 2019, but a mass breeding event helped their numbers to bounce back.
What it eats : Algae , moss , mushroom cloud , mold
Why it ’s amazing : Not all slug blend in into the background . Some , like the striking Mount Kaputar slug , stand out from the crowd . These slimy critters not only grow up to 8 inches ( 20 centimeters ) long , they also have vivacious , atomic number 10 - red trunk that are hard to miss .
These distinctive hot - pinkish slugs are receive only on an nonextant vent called Mount Kaputar , live at an altitude of around 4,900 feet ( 1,500 meters ) . Although Kaputar is surrounded by dry plain , periodic rain and snow over the mountain create a " sky island " — an quarantined highland environs with unique flora and brute .
The slugs have lived in isolation on Mount Kaputar for millions of years.
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A volcanic eruption 17 million years ago created this high - EL area , where these colorful slug have remained isolated for millions of days .
Kaputar slugs are touch to red trilateral slugs ( Triboniophorus graeffei ) that live on in eastern Australia but are a discrete coinage . Their strickle colouration is an evolutionary enigma , but it is likely linked to their isolated habitat .
The pink chromaticity may come from pigments in their dieting , or it could help them camouflage themselves among fallen red eucalyptus or snow gum leaves . It could also answer as a shape of aposematism — a demurrer mechanism that warns predators that an creature or plant is unappetizing or toxic . It ’s not love whether Kaputar slugs are toxic , so the hot pinkish color may be a trick to dissuade predators like birds or feral pigs .
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During the day , Kaputar slug obscure in plant litter at the base of trees , emerging at dark to climb the trees ' trunks in hunting of algae and moss .
Up to 90 % of the universe was thought to have been fall behind in the 2019 Australian bushfires , but these slug rebound after cooler , wetter conditions spurredmass breeding . It ’s imagine that a number of the slugs likely also go the fires by take resort underground or in rock crevices .
Like many biff , pink Kaputars play a life-sustaining part in their local ecosystem bybreaking down fallen leavesinto alimental - rich soil , advance healthy plant increase .
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