The Giant Pink Slug Reemerges: An Emblem of Australia’s Strength Amidst Bushfires
The kaputar slug, an unlikely hero, is demonstrating how Australia’s fauna can recover from the continent’s destructive bushfires.
In 2019, New South Wales (NSW) experienced devastation when approximately 5.5 million hectares, or seven percent of its total area, was burnt during the Black Summer fire season. This total area affected was four times larger than previous forest fires.
Over a few months, the impact was significant with 26 lives lost, 2,448 homes destroyed, and unprecedented consequences for communities, farmers, local businesses, wildlife, and bushland.
One of the most severely affected species was the giant, fluorescent pink slug known as Triboniophorus sp. nov. “Kaputar” or “Mount Kaputar pink slug.” Nearly 90 percent of this unique and unusual creature had been wiped out.
These slugs are limited to an area of about 100 square kilometres (40 square miles) on an extinct volcano in Mount Kaputar National Park, making the level of loss a potential extinction event.
A volcanic eruption 17 million years ago created a high-altitude environment where these slugs, as well as other invertebrates and plants, have lived in isolation for millions of years.
During the night, the slugs feed on lichen, fungi, and microalgae on eucalypt bark and rock faces, while during the day, they hide in leaf litter on the forest floor.
From 60 to 850 in Four Years
When only 60 survivors were counted in 2020, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service introduced the Slug Sleuth app for park visitors to report sightings. Users can upload pictures and information about their observations of the slugs.
There have been approximately 850 reports to date, some documenting dozens of slugs. Two sites have yielded around 200 slugs each, and numbers in previously burnt areas appear to have recovered to similar levels as those in unburnt areas.
It remains unclear how these slugs survived, but the prevailing theory suggests they sought refuge deep in rock crevasses or underground to escape the heat. The creature is still classified as an “endangered ecological community” by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
The area is also home to 11 native land snails at risk, although they are not as visually striking as the kaputar slug. Two of these snails are cannibalistic, following the trails of other snails and slugs and entering their shells, leaving no means of escape for their prey.
