Re: Big Slugs

>Banana slugs are the mascot of the University of California at Santa
>Cruz. Ive seen those slugs up close. Wonderful to look at, brilliant
>yellow with a few spots (not sure if all of them have it) but it did
>look alot like a banana! The yellow alerts predators that they are
>likely to cause sickness.

Hmm.  I had actually heard the opposite, that the yellow was for 
disguise.  On the forest floor, the slug is the same size and shape as a 
yellowed leaf of Umbellaria californica, an extremely common evergreen 
tree in coastal California and Oregon that loses its leaves throughout 
the year and goes by a number of common names.

The banana slug also looks like a old yellow willow leaf, and its color 
varies depending on food, moisture, light exposure, age, health, and 
quite a few other factors.  It's eaten by various woodland critters, such 
as salamanders and , how moist it is, and how much exposure to light it 
gets.  It's eaten by salamandars, racoons, small rodents, and as a famine 
food by the Yurok native people of Northern California.  A good booklet 
on the slugs, with lots of pictures and a lot more detail is "The Banana 
Slug", ISBN 0962121800.

Another gardener's page on slugs & snails: 
http://redwood-country.com/news/ncjournal/backissues/april96/4-96.garden.ht

ml

And there's a racy picture of slugs mating at 
http://www.nps.gov/htdocs4/olym/moluscs/slugmate.htm 

Dan McKean
San Jose, California
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