The Venus Flytrap is a carnivorous plant that eats insects and other small prey it manages to catch in between its leaves. This YouTube video shows the mechanism in action, with a poor fly being the unfortunate victim.
The Venus Flytrap is an intriguing plant, with the movement of small hairs on the inside of its leaves triggering a snap mechanism which traps the prey behind interlocked barbs.
The plant then digests the animal trapped by producing acid not dissimilar to that found in human stomachs. Despite the name, flies aren’t the only prey, with frogs and spiders also being part of the food chain.
This video is intriguing but it also made me feel for a fly for the first time ever. I’d usually swat one in my house but found myself urging this one to move before the Venus Flytrap caught it. I must be going soft in my old age.
