mimal 的鑑定

"Bard the Slug"
This is the name I gave to this being, I found him one night in my kitchen eating and on top of a leftover lettuce leaf, I ignored him and proceed. On the next day I was about to go dinner and spot him, he was high on the wall near the ceil lamp, I look to the sink and there aren’t any leftovers for him, he was faced to the left and look shy so I thought he wasn’t coming down. I then grab a lettuce leaf wave it to him and put under the window on same position as “yesterday”, then I went to dinner. After eating my soup (2 to 3 minutes) I was about wash the dish and for my surprise he's already on it and eating the leaf, somehow, he spotted it from “high” distance and waste no time, in fact I was amazed how fast he come down.

Every night Bard came to explore the kitchen at about ±00:30h and leave at ±04:30, I suspect that he come from the wood roof (his shelter) because I saw him come from top and leaving to top. I started to dispose leftovers on the sink, vegetables, leaf, fruit, peels, mushroom and others from cooks, some day’s Bard feast like a king with high variety. I discover that Bard was not a big fan of fruit but was crazy for mushroom and its soft fibers, he put big holes in it and eat all soft fibers making the mushroom bald, sometimes it was funny to see him as he drills inside the mushroom feet and could only see his body (head inside mushroom), he’s was such a character! Almost every day I put the mushroom feet or a quarter of my own mushroom for him, he always accepted the offerings and every day he explores the kitchen in different patterns.

As his route always have a window that he passes close, I tried for multiple nights to leave window semi-open so if he wants to go outside for the yard he could (Because he may be trapped inside the house), however as far as I known he never venture out and preferred to stay inside with same habits, I think if he comes out, he may never return, but I don’t really know.

While he’s eating was possible to hear the clicking sound of bites (I made some videos but hard to hear, in live was clear), after all he was such a good eater. I also discover that he doesn’t like “wind”, as every time I blow my own little air in him, he hides his eye inside and stay still. I also tried to slight touch to see the response, he doesn’t hide but looks like faster maybe to run away from what is touching him. When observed and lights on Bard was slow but when not he’s like super-fast and turn into Super-Bard, I don’t know, sometimes I just lost him in a matter of me eating a soup. He can climb a wall in no time when I’m not observing but when I do is like time is frozen… I can’t explain how it feels strange to me and how is possible to lose a slug from sight in short time.

He visited for long and almost every day as I can observe. One day he decides to routes toward a False-black-widow spider, and guess what… The spider didn’t like a bit such crossing, damaging his web, and an act of high offence, the spider reacted and start to be very aggressive towards Bard, multiple bites on head and body, at some point I saw Bard body contracting at the middle, also he kept hiding and partial show his eyes while slow moving, she was frenetic attacking and didn’t want to give the white flag, but Bard can’t defend other than kept moving slowly and I thought that maybe is causing big pain to him or maybe won’t survive the attack, so I went away and lights off as he’s much faster that way. After a couple minutes I was to see and he’s gone, no trace of Bard, I tried to follow his shinny trace on wall but lead to nowhere, he just disappears and no eating that day? Still, I had a feeling that he would survive and I will see him again “tomorrow”. And then next day here is he, descending the wall in glory to the sink to gather food and/or exploring. Some of the days he’s not much into food but more into exploring, was interesting to see different routines, the personality and Bard growing over time.

Another day and he decided to disturb the spider again, for my surprise this time spider does absolutely nothing, she just stays put on web without moving a leg, observing and “ignoring” Bard all the way. Yet I could feel the anxiety, tension and “anger” of the spider in the air, just like a wrong move could trigger a new WW, she was not enjoying the moment for sure with the boldness of Bard crossing on her territory, but now she knows Bard is the boss. Was very interesting to see that spider learnt that was useless to spend energy on Bard with no ahead reward, and it’s better to just repair or re-do the damaged web. Not only this but she recognized Bard as same individual from the last visit, proving memory, recognize, association, and calculation of outcome abilities (A intelligent being).

A couple more days and I lost Bard visits, last photo is the last time I see him, maybe he went out to seek a partner or to venture in other territory, I don’t know, but I hope he’s thriving and eating the beloved mushrooms!

I learnt much with Bard and gave me other perspective about slugs, everyday I took photos, videos and my notes, without doubt Bard was very cool, cute and funny to watch, from the way it moves and use its eyes, body adapts to corners, his mantle, to even eating, it’s clear that every being have its own intelligence and self-aware. By observing animals in their “natural” life is easy to conclude that they are much more than school have thought us, the idea of irrational animals they sold us is just non-sense and today I believe they are the superior beings here, not us. Bard made me learn a bit more about slugs, but also was such an honor to have him and be allowed to witness his life. Today I leave some leftovers to outside slugs that come visit my backyard, they all love the mushrooms! Thanks to Bard the slug!

Full photos and videos album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NVb2SwaAM4mix59b6