Australia is world-renowned for its truly bizarre parade of alien-like and deadly creatures: Tiny blue octopi that can kill with the slightest touch, marsupial mammals with a duck bill as well as some of the deadliest snakes and spiders on the planet.
Now, a new species of fluorescent pink slugs has been discovered for the first time, inhabiting a place known to the locals as "Magic Mountain". The day-glo pink invertebrates have been given the official moniker Triboniophorus aff. graeffei, and were only recently discovered living just below the tree line of New South Wales' Mount Kaputar, a 5000 foot (1524 meter) extinct volcano located in the northern part of the Australian state.
Legends and myths of the brightly-hued slimy creatures had actually existed in the region for centuries, but it wasn't until recently that scientists and researchers were able to explore the relatively remote area in depth and discovered that the mythical slugs actually did exist.
The scientists believe that the fluorescent coloring might actually be a form of camouflage and the species can grow to a length of eight inches (20 centimeters) . The creatures are possibly a relic from a time when Australia was part of a super-continent known as Gondwana. After an eruption of Mount Kaputar occurred over 17 million years ago, a tiny oasis was created where the slugs flourished and were able to survive for millennium, virtually undetected by man.
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