Carnivorous Plants

Many of us might have heard of the Venus Fly-Trap. Carnivorous Plants are plants that get extra nutrients from animal prey (not energy). They thrive in areas where insects are abundant and where the soil is poor in nutrients so have to find alternative sources. They still photosynthesize as sunlight is sufficient, and they cannot animals into energy. Here are some examles of carnivorous plants:

Venus Fly-Trap:

Probadly the most famous of the carnivorous plants, venus fly-traps are snap traps. They lure insects with tasty substances on the leaves. However, they don't snap the insect when it lands. The trigger is like a time bomb, once an insect touches one hair, the timer will start, counting 30 seconds. If the insect doesn't touch another hair, the timer will reset. But if the unlucky insect triggers the trap, the leaves will shut in less than a second, trapping the prey in some sort of a prison cell. Once in a while, the insect might trigger the trap at the outside of the leaf, so might escape. But most of the time, there is no way out. The plant then excrete digestive juices and digest the insect. Two days later, the trap reopens and the husk of the insect falls out, waiting for the next victim.



Sundew:

Sundews are probadly the hardiest of all carnivorous plants, laying their roots on every continent other than Antartica. They are flypaper traps. Insects that are attracted by the sweet but extremely sticky substance on the trap will get stuck. The leaf then coils around the victim and digests it. Below is a video from BBC's "Life", showing the hunting techniques of both the venus fly-trap and the sundew.




Pitcher Plant:

Pitchers modify their leaves to resemble a bottle. There will be a pool of digestive juices where any insect that falls into the trap will be digested. Like many carnivorous plants, they attract victims with sweet subtances. The landing platform of the pitcher is very slippery, so the insect will fall into the pool below. There, the protein and nucleic acids of the animal would be digested. To prevent overflowing during rain, the pitcher have evolved an "umbrella" to prevent rainwater from entering the pool. Though dangerous the pitcher may be, some animals make use of the pitcher and stay there for life... Below is a video on one of these opportunists, from the BBC masterpiece, "Planet Earth".




Of all the discovered carnivorous plants so far, none of them is a man-eater, all targeting arthopods, or the most, small amphibians and reptiles. But, rumours say that man-eating trees dwell in the depths of the Amazon and Madagascar... Who knows what secrets scientific discoveries might reveal about the private lives of these seemingly-peaceful organisms?