The blob. It has no brain, is bright yellow and can heal itself in two minutes when cut in half. Sounds like something out of a cheesy Hollywood horror film, but this mysterious creature is real and can be seen in Paris from Saturday onwards.
Paris Zoological Park has announced the unveiling of a first-of-its-kind exhibit, calling it “The Blob.” Visitors will be able to view this odd creature, an organism the zoo said that appeared on earth around a billion years ago.
The unicellular mold is officially known as physarum polycephalum, according to CBS news. Researchers at the zoo have said that the creature is “essentially immortal” and fears only drought and light.
Despite the blob having no mouth, stomach, eyes, or brain, it can still detect food, digest it, and can also retain memories to adapt its behaviour.
Bruno David, the director of the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, says the blob is still baffling scientists. “The blob is a living being which belongs to one of nature’s mysteries . . . “It’s been here for millions of years, and we still don’t really know what it is,” David told Reuters.
The zoo said the blob has no problems reproducing, and that’s no surprise considering it has almost 720 sexes. The organism also moves around 1.6 inches per hour despite having no legs, wings, or fins. It can also regenerate under two minutes when injured.
According to scientists, it is its own species. It is neither an animal, plant nor fungus, yet possesses qualities from all. It has no brain but can adapt its behaviour to find its way out of a maze.
“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,” David said.
The organism was grown in laboratories at Paris Zoological Park. Scientists fed the blob oatmeal in small petri dishes before transferring it to tree bark.
The Blob’s name comes from the Hollywood classic featuring the late Steve McQueen. The 1958 science fiction horror film entertains the notion of a blob monster arriving from space to consume everything in its path in a Pennsylvania town.
