What the project is about:
This project was created to estimate the banana slug population in the Mount Tamalpais watershed. It wants to provide some answers to the following questions: Approximately how many banana slugs live in the Mount Tamalpais area? Where are they mostly seen? What do they look like? How big are they?

What to do:
If you find a banana slug along the trail, take a picture and answer the questions provided. This is also a great activity to do together with the kids while hiking. Please, stay on the trails at all times. Do not handle the animal or move it away from the spot you found it in. Banana Slugs are extremely sensitive to the salt and oil in our hands, and they need to follow their own slime trails to find their way home. Their home is usually under a log or on the bark of a tree.

Some more things to know about Banana Slugs:
Banana slugs, genus Ariolimax, are for the most part found within the redwood forest. Banana Slugs can eat anything in the forest floor, but leave the little redwood saplings alone, therefore helping them grow. They are also very important to help replenish the nutrients of the forest soil.

Here are some fun facts about Banana Slugs:

• they are the largest North American land mollusks
• they grow up to 10 inches long
• their lifespan is up to 7 years
• they can move up to 6.5 inches a minute
• their color is dependent on genetics, diet, environmental moisture, light exposure, and age.
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