Identify this bizarre (fungus? cocoon? something else???) on my strawberries...

[NCarolinawoman]

8. I never thought of slime molds getting on green growing plants.

The ones I have seen are always "crawling" along some kind of decaying organic matter on the ground. The most common ones that I have seen look like shiny yellow flattened scrambled eggs. Hard to notice movement except they will not be in the same place the next day.

I have been told that they have some form of "brain" and scientists have discovered that the molds can out-perform rats in figuring out mazes; with the molds moving at a slower pace ("slower pace" being quite an understatement). Sounds really bizarre, but fascinating.