Slime moulds are freaky as.
''Single-celled slime molds demonstrate the ability to memorize and anticipate repeated events, a team of Japanese researchers reported in January.
The study clearly shows “a primitive version of brain function” in an organism with no brain at all.''
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/071
WOW!
The one in my yard growing on mulch was quite a different type, one of these I am pretty sure:
Can something have a more unappealing common name than a Dog Vomit Slime Mold?
(photos from google)
This link came up when I was searching for DVSM, check it out for some truly outstanding Tasmanian fungi porn:
http://tasmania.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=82&start=0
(scroll down). Some of the best photography I have ever seen... that near flourescent red one is my fave.
I am astonished.