Five Fun Fungi Facts

Are they a plant? They’re definitely not an animal… So what ARE fungi? Here are Five Fun Fungi Facts!

As it happens, fungi are their own specific group of living organisms. They’re neither plants, animals nor bacteria, but have a kingdom all of their own!

Fungi come in a huge range of different shapes, sizes and colours – you can download our seasonal fungi spotters here to help you find fungi on your nature adventures all year round.

Interested in knowing more about these fascinating organisms? here are our top 5 fun facts:

1. Fungi is found in water, earth, the air… and even in plants and animals!

2. There are more than 100,000 different species of fungi that have been identified around the world! But scientists think there could be as many as 3.8 MILLION! That’s a lot of fungi still to discover!

3. They vary in size from microscopic to several square miles big! In fact the biggest living thing on earth is a fungus! It is a honey fungus nicknamed the Humungous Fungus!

4. They get their food by decomposing matter or eating off their hosts as parasites. Without fungi, we wouldn’t be able to wander through woods, because they would be covered in piles of dead wood, plants and animals.

5. Scientists who specialize in the study of fungi are called mycologists.

For more fun facts about fungi, check out what squeaks has to say:

And how about our very own resident fungi enthusiast, Renee, who stumbled across a fully-formed beautiful white mushroom whilst exploring with puffins: