Inspired by my new web-based “Launch Pad” to the book DOE Simplified, PhD biologist Gaston Habets put his new statistical know-how to good use in his own backyard out in California by offering a choice of beer to the slugs eating up his garden.
Being a native of a cold clime I’d no idea how troublesome slugs could be until some years ago when my cousin in the Bay Area had me out to her place for dinner and asked me to help her gather up greens from the garden. The size of the slugs surprised me: The Pacific banana slug approaches a foot in length according to this New York Times science blog.
Given their gentle nature and top speed of 0.0055 miles per hour, one need not fear these slimy creatures. The only thing is that they eat up the gardens. So that sets the stage for the humane solution of sidetracking slugs with a bowl of beer. But which brew do they prefer? Gaston did his bit for the sake of garden science by setting out eight trays at specific locations around the vegetables and randomly pouring either Bud light or alcohol-free O’Doul’s. He repeated this experiment over four nights in a way that blocked out any differences in the nocturnal feedings.* The graphic shown here shows the outcome: By nearly a 3-to-1 ration slugs preferred Bud Light over the O’Doul’s. They did not get thrown off by the random location of the beer—the slugs found their favorite bars and bellied up.
*Gaston’s data showed a maximum slug count on Saturday night, but then they dropped off to a minimum on Sunday. My conclusion is that slugs party hearty. Who knew?
Slugs prefer Bud Light over O’Doul’s
P.S. It seems that slugs from coast to coast really do prefer Bud from what I see here.