Hi my name is Doug the slug, I am a pacific banana slug.
I live in Minnehaha Regional Park located in Coquitlam, on the unceded territory of the Kwikwetlem first nations. Minnekhada was named by a wealthy lumberman who purchased the property to establish the Minnekhada Dairy and Stock Farm. The name “Minnekhada “comes from the Sioux (Dakota) language, meaning “rattling water”. Can you see the rippled in the water?
Me and all the other slugs like to think the rattling water is coming from the loud vibrations from our neighbors the toads and the frogs.
These two are my friends the invasive black slugs found at Minnekhada, we are all called ‘slugs’ because we don’t wear shells on our backs, but we are actually only very, very distant cousins!
Some say slugs are brave because we can cross valleys… And mountains too!
You may be wondering… how do we climb? Well, our whole bodies are a muscle, and we stick to every surface with the slime we release.
This is Pat coming down the tree we all call “Mount Everest”, isn’t she strong!
To do all this we fuel ourselves with decaying plants… yes you heard that right! Call us the cleaning crew of Minnekhada.
Slugs love a good fungus feast if we can find that too.
Here in Minnekhada we live in harmony.
This is Max the millipede my friend and sometimes we go on walks across the floor together.
Along my walks we’ll also come across our marshy neighbors… this is a toadlet!
Along my walk I look up and see the glowing bright tips of the western hemlocks.
And if I’m lucky I might just pass by a red columbine.
But at the end of a long walk all slugs like to take a rest.