Banana Slugs

Banana Slug...Banana Slug..
Every time I see you...I say Ugg
Banana Slug....Banana Slug....
The next time I see you
I'll give you a hug....

Along time ago when I worked with little kiddos, I used to play a video for them about Banana Slugs. In the video there were some preschool children singing about and playing with Banana Slugs.  Where do you think they were?? Yup, they were sitting on a Redwood tree that had fallen down. The were in the Redwood forest! On our way to the Redwoods, this memory came to me.  I can't tell you how excited I was when Tim found one while we were walking through the forest. My day just seemed complete. I remember how I used to watch the video with my students and wonder what in the world those monstrous trees were. How blessed I am to have been given the opportunity to walk among them.

The Pacific banana slug is the second-largest species of slug in the world. They can grow up to 25 centimeters long. 

Banana slugs have small teeth that are on its tongue. They use this toothy tongue like a file to eat food. Banana slugs  can move at 6 ¹⁄₂ inches per minute.

Slugs use two pairs of tentacles to sense their environment. The larger, upper pair called "eyestalks," are used to detect light or movement. The second, lower pair are used to detect chemicals. The tentacles can retract and extend themselves to avoid damage. If one gets damaged, the slug can grow a new one.    Dehydration is a major problem for the slug. To combat this, banana slugs excrete a thick coating of mucus around their bodies and can also aestivate. This means to be in a dormant state. To do so, they secrete a protective layer of mucus and insulate themselves with a layer of soil and leaves. They remain inactive in this state until the environment becomes moist again. Aren't these guys amazing!!

Banana slugs are detritivores or decomposers. They process leaves, animal droppings, moss, and dead plant material, and then recycle them into a soil humus.  They like mushrooms. spread seeds and spores when they eat, and excrete a nitrogen rich fertilizer. Slugs are an important aspect of the ecosystem.   Raccoons, garter snakes,  ducks,  geese and salamanders  eat banana slugs; they roll the slugs in soil to bind the slime.

Banana slugs have been used as food by Yurok Indians of the North Coast and by German immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A yearly festival and contest is held at the Russian River including slug races and a contest for recipes. 

The banana slug is the mascot of the University of California Santa Cruz.