Slime mold in my yard!

[MaxIBoy]

A couple weeks ago, I noticed few small slime molds in one of my mom's freshly mulched flower beds. They just sort of... appeared overnight. See first photo.

I think I know where they came from, now. They were probably seeded from our mulch pile. I say this, because overnight, last night, (or maybe just over the course of the day today,) a massive slime mold appeared as if by magic, right on top of the mulch pile. It wasn't there yesterday. Now it's here. See the rest of the photos.

In photos two and three, my mom is holding the cat there for scale. In photos four and five, those are my fingers resting on the mulch, also for scale.

Is that awesome or what?

[Chilli Bob]

That's some sweet slime mould!

The landscaping company I work for did a job last year, and we used a different mulch supplier because they were cheap. Two weeks later I got a paniced phone call from the client saying that "Toxic waste" was leaking out of the new gardens. I went down to sort the problem out, and approx 90% of the gardens we mulched were covered in huge yellow and orange slime moulds like yours, interspersed with white bracket fungi the size of dinner plates. It was terrifyingly surreal. I calmed the client down, and a few days later they were gone, but we never used that supplier again.

[Mark76]

Is it friendly or hostile?

Any sign of goblins or jackals?

[CraigPaleo]

My God! Where do you live? We have mold in FL in the summer and many houses became infested with black mold after the '04 hurricanes but I've never heard of nor seen this slimy mold!

[Vitamin-Carrot]

Are you sure nothing has been dumped there?

[jespdj]

Is that awesome or what?
Yes, it is! Slime molds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mold) are a very strange form of life. They are not plants, not animals, not fungi or bacteria, they are a completely separate group.

Some kinds of slime molds consist of individual, separate cells, that can suddenly come together and organize themselves as a single organism. Very cool!

[CraigPaleo]

Found all over the Earth? The Blob! :)

[calrogman]

Kill it with fire

[subdivision]

Kill it with fire

Indeed. Also a "Cure Disease" spell should do the trick.

[MaxIBoy]

Yes, it is! Slime molds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mold) are a very strange form of life. They are not plants, not animals, not fungi or bacteria, they are a completely separate group.

Some kinds of slime molds consist of individual, separate cells, that can suddenly come together and organize themselves as a single organism. Very cool!And when they run out of food, they emerge as one at the surface to form fruiting bodies and deposit spores!

They've solved mazes to get to food, and they've been wired up to control robots.

Pretty neat stuff.

[Skripka]

And when they run out of food, they emerge as one at the surface to form fruiting bodies and deposit spores!

They've solved mazes to get to food, and they've been wired up to control robots.

Pretty neat stuff.

I don't trust slime moulds. Buy a S&W, and some silver bullets. Before long it will sprout legs.