The Incredible World of Slime Moulds

Karlheinz Baumann’s special interest lies with the slime moulds (Myxomycetes in scientific terms). One of his first documentaries, filmed more than 30 years ago, featured these creatures, which inhabit a grey world between the plant and animal kingdoms. Slime moulds are neither plant nor animal, yet they share characteristics with both.
Today, Baumann is a world-renowned expert on these creatures. He boasts a personal collection of more than 4000 specimens – one of the largest in the world. The three-volume compendium Die Myxomyceten that he photographed has come to be recognised as the standard reference for slime moulds across the world.


Books

Hermann Neubert, Wolfgang Nowotny, Karlheinz Baumann
Die Myxomyceten Deutschlands und des angrenzenden Alpenraumes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Österreichs
Volume 1 – Ceratiomyxales, Echinosteliales, Liceales, Trichiales
(343 S., 192 colour plates, 158 illustrations, 96 electronmicroscopy images)
Karlheinz Baumann Verlag, Gomaringen 1993


Hermann Neubert, Wolfgang Nowotny, Karlheinz Baumann, with Heidi Marx
Die Myxomyceten Deutschlands und des angrenzenden Alpenraumes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Österreichs
Volume 2 – Physarales
(368 S., 208 colour plates, 165 illustrations, 108 electronmicroscopy images) Karlheinz Baumann Verlag, Gomaringen 1995


Hermann Neubert, Wolfgang Nowotny, Karlheinz Baumann, unter Mitarbeit von Heidi Marx
Die Myxomyceten Deutschlands und des angrenzenden Alpenraumes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Österreichs
Band 3 – Stemonitales
(391 S., 180 Farbfotos, 221 Zeichnungen, 180 rasterelektromikroskopische Aufnahmen)
Karlheinz Baumann Verlag, Gomaringen 2000


Reviews:
Prof. Dr. Uno Eliasson in: NORDIC JOURNAL OF BOTANY 16, 1996 (released after volume 2)
"The complete set of volumes is recommended to all people working on myxomycetes"

Dr. Harold W. Keller in: SIDA 17, magazine 1, 1996 (released after volume 2)
"This volume contains some of the best color habit photographs of physaraceous Myxomycetes I have ever seen. (...) Any serious student of the Myxomycetes will want to have this volume on their bookshelf."

Prof. Dr. Uno Eliasson in: NORDIC JOURNAL OF BOTANY 21, 2001 (released after volume 3)
"The style and beauty of this volume are in line with the preceding volumes in the series. The colour photographs are first class, some are stunningly beautiful. Thirty pages with altogether 180 SEM pictures show details of spore onamentation and capillitium. Much credit should be given to the meticulously prepared black-and-white drawings. (...) With these volumes the three authors, in the last two volumes with the cooperation of Heidi Marx, habe completed a magnificent work."


Film

Like Nothing on Earth
The incredible life of slime moulds (43 mins)
Slime moulds is a somewhat unattractive name, but it describes a fantastic and fascinating life form. Slime moulds – scientists call the myxomycetes – crawl over the ground like rippling monsters, hunting innocent woodland creatures. To reproduce, they change into delicate, plant-like forms, unmatched for their individual beauty and shimmering colours.
Slime moulds are evolutionary outsiders. Magical creatures, they lie somewhere between the two great kingdoms, animals and plants. They have, literally, their own way of life.
Karlheinz Baumann has studied these amazing creatures for more than twenty years, in the cloud forests of Canada, in the Emperor’s Garden in Tokyo, and in the woodlands on his own doorstep. His camera takes us into a strange and exciting world, mostly invisible to the naked eye, where days pass in seconds, and microscopic creatures become terrifying giants. The world of the slime moulds outdoes anything science fiction can offer.
Now a new, electrifying report comes from Japan: at the University of Sapporo scientists have developed an intelligence test for slime moulds. The film shows the experiment – and its unexpected, almost frightening results.
It is hard to resist the fascination of these weird creatures – and not only for scientists. Slime moulds have their fans all over the world – an endearingly eccentric crowd, recognising no international borders, united in their passion for their beloved myxos.