Plants are vital for all of us, not in how they balance out the ecosystem but in the sense that humans literally cannot survive without them. They provide us with many things like food and oxygen. That’s why most of us think that they are beautiful, life-giving, and harmless entities, and you would be right, except for the ones that are animal eaters. Yes, you read it right. There are many carnivorous plants worldwide that primarily feed on animals.
The only thing matter is size. Compared to us, these carnivorous plants are very small; otherwise, they will be categorized as human-eating plants. So, allow us to show you plants that eat animals.
1. Carnivorous Plants: Venus Flytrap, Bear Trap, Mouse Trap or Man Trap
The Venus flytrap is certainly the most well-known of carnivorous plants. It is also easiest to acquire, being inexpensive and small enough to likely find in your store’s floral department rather than having to visit your local nursery. True to its name, it uses the snapping trap to capture prey – after it lures them in with its sweet smell and fluorescent blue glow, that is.
And while its most common prey is indeed the fly, it also eats ants, beetles, other insects, and arachnids, even frogs. Once it snaps shut, it takes up to 10 days to consume the prey with red sap and open to reveal the exoskeleton. One caveat: You can’t feed it the same meat humans eat, so if you give it a hamburger, it will rot and die. However, frogs, lizards, and small birds are fine if you want to feed it something more substantial than its typical meal of small insects. Interestingly, the Waterwheel Plant is like the aquatic version of this plant in both genetics and trapping mechanism.
2. Carnivorous Plants: Pitcher Plant or Monkey Cup
There are many varieties of pitcher plants, the tropical versions of which are also called monkey cups, but which all have the same trapping mechanisms: A hybrid combination of lobster pot and pitfall. Their slippery insides and bristles ensure the prey’s very rare escape. Plus, most have sugars laced with an alkaloid to intoxicate the prey. They also all eat insects – even butterflies, grasshoppers, and crickets. The monkey cups may hold a liter of water and monkeys have been seen drinking from them. Thirsty humans can also drink from them.
3. Carnivorous Plants: Butterwort or Sticky Leaf
Bright, orchid-like flowers are the feature of this plant at first sight. Look closer, though, and you’ll see tiny hairs that secrete a mucus-like substance. The vivid colors of the flowers, whether white, pink, yellow, or purple, attract the prey, the flypaper traps it and then the leaves secrete digestive juices. It eats crickets, flies, spiders, caterpillars, slugs, gnats, springtails, and fruit flies.
4. Carnivorous Plants: Cobra Lily or California Pitcher Plant
Although the cobra lily is a type of pitcher plant, it doesn’t resemble the description of a monkey cup or even an obvious pitcher shape. Its appearance is markedly different. Instead, it looks like a cobra with its head curled up and ready to strike. Also unlike other pitcher plants, it doesn’t trap rainwater but instead fills up its pitcher with water it absorbs from its roots. However, it likewise eats a variety of insects from small to large and uses both lobster pot and pitfall trapping mechanisms. Its many false exits with transparent patches trap its prey which when it’s exhausted, succumbs to drowning in the liquid.
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