A Paris zoo is showcasing a new organism known as the "blob" - a slime mould which can heal itself and has 720 sexes.

The exhibit will be shown at the Paris Zoological Park from Saturday and is a unicellular living being which looks like a fungus but behaves like an animal.

Known officially as physarum polycephalum, it has no mouth, no stomach and no eyes, but it can detect food and digest it.

Image: The blob has almost 720 different sexes

It is able to learn, despite having no brain, and can heal itself in two minutes if cut in half.

Rather than having two sexes - male and female - it has almost 720.


Bruno David, director of the Paris Museum of Natural History, described the blob as "one of nature's mysteries".

"It surprises us because it has no brain but is able to learn... and if you merge two blobs, the one that has learned will transmit its knowledge to the other."

Scientific researchers at the Zoological Park say the slime mould is able to solve problems - including being able to avoid traps, solve a maze and anticipate changes to its environment.

A study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society in 2016 also found the blob can learn to ignore noxious substances and remember the behaviour a year later.

Image: It has been described as 'one of nature's mysteries'

"We know for sure it is not a plant but we don't really know if it's an animal or a fungus," Mr David said.

"It behaves very surprisingly for something that looks like a mushroom... it has the behaviour of an animal, it is able to learn."

The blob was named after a 1958 Steve McQueen science-fiction film in which an alien known as The Blob consumes everything in its path.

Physarum polycephalum is believed to be around a billion years old but first gained attention in 1973 when a Texas woman discovered the mould growing in her back garden.