Australia’s Mount Kaputar, located in New South Wales, is home to one of nature’s mysteries—the seven-inch, fiery pink sloth.
''It's just one of those magical places, especially when you are up there on a cool, misty morning,'' said Mount Kaputar National Park Ranger Michael Murphy, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Murphy has worked on the mountain for two decades.
''It's a tiny island of alpine forest, hundreds of kilometers away from anything else like it. The slugs, for example, are buried in the leaf mould during the day, but sometimes at night they come out in their hundreds and feed off the mould and moss on the trees. They are amazing, unreal-looking creatures,“ he added.
The pink slugs are not a recent discovery. Residents from near the mountain have mentioned the creatures before. It was only recently that the Triboniophorus aff.gGraeffei—the scientific name of the pink slugs—was found to be exclusive to Mount Kaputar. The taxonomists who studied the snails also found a snail species that eats other types of vegetarian snails.
If not for a volcanic eruption approximately 17 million years ago, the slugs would probably be extinct. The eruption created an abandoned area for the creatures to live in peace.
The slug’s roots can traced back to the time when Australia was joined to other land landmasses to make one huge continent.
Creatures who reside on the mountain are only found within a six mile radius around Mount Kaputar. According to the NSW Scientific Committee, the area could be classified as an ''endangered ecological community”. This would make the it virtually untouchable by developers.
According to a report from the committee, “These species have evolved from lowland ancestors and have been isolated in an otherwise snail-hostile environment as conditions began to dry.” This makes the creatures “acutely susceptible” to human- induced climate change. If temperatures around the mountain were to increase even the slightest bit, their climate would dry up.
''I'm a big believer in invertebrates,'' said Murphy. ''People tend to focus on the cute and cuddly bird and mammal species like koalas. But these little behind-the-scenes invertebrates really drive whole ecosystems.''
