The Paris Zoological Park recently introduced the “blob,” a weird organism that looks like a fungus and has almost 720 sexes.
The exhibit, which will open to the public on Saturday, showcases the unicellular living being, which has no eyes, no mouth, and no stomach, but can sense food, Reuters reported. This yellow “blob” sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi film: it also has the ability to move without body parts and heal itself if divided into two.
“The blob is a living being which belongs to one of nature’s mysteries,” Bruno David, director of the Paris Museum of Natural History, told Reuters. “It surprises us because it has no brain but is able to learn (…) and if you merge two blobs, the one that has learned will transmit its knowledge to the other.”
This strange organism isn’t a young one: Scientists believe that it may be roughly a billion years old, Fox 8 noted.
“Acacia trees, oak bark, and chestnut bark are its favorite places,” Marlene Itan of the Paris Zoological Park explained. “It thrives in temperatures oscillating between 19 and 25 degrees Celsius (66 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) and when humidity levels reach 80 percent to 100 percent.”
The “blob” was first grown in petri dishes and according to researchers, its favorite food is oatmeal. Once it became bigger in size, researchers grafted it onto tree bark and carefully positioned it in a terrarium, where visitors can see it.
Scientists will continue to study this organism’s odd appearance and behavior down the line.
“We know for sure it is not a plant but we don’t really if it’s an animal or a fungus,†David added. “It behaves very surprisingly for something that looks like a mushroom (…) it has the behavior of an animal, it is able to learn.â€
More on Geek.com:
- World’s First Plant Selfie Snapped at London Zoo
- Shocking Video Shows Woman Climbing Into Lion Exhibit at Bronx Zoo
- Germany’s First Panda Cubs Born at Berlin Zoo
from Geek.com https://ift.tt/2IZxwUB
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment