What Is the Strange Slime That Appeared in a Nature Reserve After Meteor Event and Is It Related?

A strange, slimy substance spotted in a nature reserve recently is causing some to speculate whether it was brought in by a meteor.

(Image: PA via Metro UK)

Among the many reasons why the slime is most likely not the result of a meteor crashing to Earth is the fact that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Ham Wall Nature Reserve in the United Kingdom is several thousand miles away from Chelyabinsk where a meteor went down last week, injuring more than 1,200 people. But there were apparently some reports of a local meteor sighting recently as well.

Spokesperson for the nature center, Tony Whitehead, told the U.K.'s Metro news that many people had contacted them with ideas about the 4-inch globs of "mystery slime":

"Many pointed out the sighting of a strange meteor-like object over the reserve last week captured on film by a local wildlife photographer," Whitehead told Metro.

"In folklore it is said to be deposited in the wake of meteor showers," Whitehead said the International Business Times. "It's great that in this day and age that there are still mysteries out there."

Whitehead noted to IBT that the slime appeared to be "something living." But he said most people thought the origin of the substance was from Earth.

Thus far, the prevailing idea from veterinarian Peter Green is that it is frog spawn. Whitehead went on to explain that Green said the frog spawn from females is designed to swell on contact with water and that ground moisture could have thus contributed to the "clear slime-like substance."

He included that sometimes the spawn, which is a glycoprotein, is dropped if the animal is in a stressful situation, like if it were attacked by a predator.

Whitehead did acknowledge that the substance could be slime molds as well.

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(H/T: SlashGear)