Environment Animals What slime mold and online shoppers have in common Trying to make good choices in a cold, hard world By Eleanor Cummins Published Mar 30, 2017 9:56 PM EDT ...

A creepy video that's gotten new life as a GIF shows a slime mold on the hunt. The slime mold, a species called Physarum polycephalum, is not actually a mold at all; it's a single-celled protist.

The mold in the photo is a slime mold. It is a saprophytic creature, which means it lives to decompose organic matter. However, it is not classified as a mold or fungus scientifically.