Meat-eating plants

plants Waterwheel plant Underwater traps Cobra plant snap shut in 1⁄50 of a second when triggered by prey.

Long teeth keep insects inside as the trap closes.

See-through windows on the hood confuse trapped prey who tire themselves out trying to escape.

The bright, slippery lip attracts insects.

The leaves have pools of water between them where drowned insects are digested.

Trap closes in less than a second when trigger hairs are touched.

1. Brightly colored lip, slippery with sweet nectar, attracts prey.

Some tropical species have pitchers that hang from tendrils. A lid prevents rain from flooding the pitcher.

2. Waxy insides ensure the insect cannot climb out.

3. Insect drowns in a pool of digestive juices.

Many animals eat plants, but have you ever heard of a plant eating an animal? Meat-eating plants often grow in bogs, trapping insects and other small animals to get the nitrogen and minerals they need that are missing from the wet soil. There are different types of meat-eating, or carnivorous, plants. Waterwheel plants and Venus flytraps have snap traps, which quickly close shut around their victims. Pitcher plants have a lip of nectar to attract their prey. The insects then fall into the pitcher (jug) of digestive

Tubelike traps contain downward-pointing hairs to prevent their victims’ escape.

Sensitive hairs, when touched by prey, open the trapdoor, which then swells up and sucks the victim into a pouch.

Sensitive hairs covered in sticky juices wrap around the prey.

Tube-shaped leaves produce nectar to attract insects, which are digested by bacteria in the trap.

The undigested parts of insects sink to the bottom of the colorful trap.

juices, which break down their bodies. The flypaper traps of the butterwort and sundew have sticky hairs that make sweet treats to attract insects, which they digest slowly. The bladderwort is an amazing plant with leaves that have evolved over a long time to form pouchlike traps to help them get the nutrients they need to survive. Its underwater traps are triggered by sensitive hairs and act like vacuum cleaners to suck in small prey as they swim by.

Sticky hairs, present on only the summer leaves, trap insects.