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Meet some of the greatest meat eaters of all time. Not lions or sharks - we're talking plants. Carnivorous plants, to be precise! |
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Most plants get their nutrients from the soil. But not these plants. Where they come from, the soil offers no such luxury. So using ingenious methods, they have to resort to more drastic measures, and eat meat! |
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This is the sundew. It may have a pretty name, but it has hairs covered with a sticky treat that flies just love. |
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But if a fly isn't careful, flexible tentacles will wrap around it, gradually swamping it with goo until it dies! |
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This is the butterwort. It likes its prey buttered on both sides! It has a sly weapon in the form of it leaves. |
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They look harmless enough, but they actually produce a tiny layer of grease. |
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Any bug that tries to walk on the leaves will get swamped with the grease and suffocate. Eww! |
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The picture plant is the most slippery of the lot. It has a delicious trail of nectar that leads from the rim towards downward-pointing hairs. But the hairs prevent you from turning back! |
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All you can do is slide down the greasy walls, into the acid bath below. Eek! |
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And this the venus fly trap, which you might have heard of. After a hard day buzzing about, the venus fly trap's two plump cushions might look like a lovely place to take a nap. |
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But the cushions have hairs on them which are very sensitive. Once triggered, the leaves snap shut! |
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It then breaks down the insect body... |
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...and absorbs the nutrients through its leaves. And afterwards, it opens the leaves again so that the wind can blow away any remains of the dead insects. |
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