Slime Molds: Plant, Animal Or ?

foreign [Laughter] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] in damp woodland environments throughout the world there lives the lowly slime mold a most curious organism because it challenges classification as either plant or animal as you are about to see this slime mold cultivated in a laboratory is moving but too slowly to be seen so it is photographed with a time lapse camera the culture is placed in a humidity chamber to simulate the damp conditions needed for growth the time-lapse camera is programmed to photograph the slime mold over a 24-hour period the resulting scene reveals the animal-like movement watch there are two major types of slime modes one includes faisarum the other diction both physarum and diction thrive in a natural woodland setting under moist conditions the faisarum has remained dormant during recent dry periods but now becomes active watching it feeding and growing you might agree with those biologists who have classified it as a fungus animal the streaming motion is characteristic of amoeboid protozoans organisms that are generally recognized as animals unlike plants that manufacture their own food slime molds cannot they must move about in damp dark places to find bacteria their food an area of nine centimeters was covered in 24 hours these remarkable organisms have the ability to change direction and to work their way through obstacles like a field of penicillium mold as the slime mold streams there are noticeable rhythmic pulsations of its entire mass called a plasmodium when a small part of the plasmodium is viewed under a microscope the streaming movement can be observed this internal motion not only carries ingested food throughout the entire organism but also propels the plasmodium in its search for more bacteria this can be demonstrated by inoculating an agar plate with faisarum culture the agar is sterile and moisture as well as nutrient content is controlled oat flakes are used to provide food not the flake itself but bacteria that grow on it watch what happens when the physaram contacts the oat flake here a second oat flake is placed on the agar the same thing happens when a third flake is introduced if the agar is allowed to dry up the faisarum will become dormant when moisture is restored even two years later it becomes active again moving feeding and growing exhibiting animal behavior but is it an animal most botanists classify slime molds as plants slimy fungus plants because they reproduce like fungi generally recognized as plants but are slime molds plants they form spores like the spores of common bread mold a fungus or like this common mold the white area is the mold growing the dark green dusty areas are millions of spores slime mold spores can be examined microscopically these are faisarum spores and these are the spores of diction if you watch your physaram long enough you will witness the amazing transformation from animal stage to plant stage the plasmodium stops growing and its surface becomes lumpy spore bearing stalks called sporangia appear each sporangium contains the reproductive spores that will give rise to new generations now let's watch the other type of slime mold diction build its brandia eventually mature spores will be released and a new life cycle will begin slime molds move about to find food like protozoans but are they animals they produce spore bearing stalks like fungi but are they plants one theory suggests they predate the emergence of both plants and animals as we know them and how many other organisms that defy simple classification are yet to be discovered perhaps the lowly slime mold is both plant and animal perhaps it is neither but then what is it you