There's no sign that giant man-eating (or cow-eating!) plants exist anywhere in nature. But for well over a century, plant-monster hoaxes, science fiction, and horror stories have been inspired by the amazing fact that some plants actually do consume small animals.
In his 1955 book, Salamanders and other Wonders, science author Willy Ley determined that the Mkodo tribe, Carl Liche, and the Madagascar man-eating tree all appeared to be fabrications: "The facts are pretty clear by now. Of course the man eating tree does not exist.
Carnivorous plants can catch small animals, but a human-eater would need a major upgrade. It's only in movies and plays — such as this staging of Little Shop of Horrors in London, England, in 2009 — that plants are able to eat people.
Carnivorous plants are not dangerous to humans at all. They consume mostly insects; tiny mammals like rodents are their maximum ability. However, they can still digest the flesh of animals and humans if it is fed to them in tiny bits.
species, the critically endangered Attenborough's pitcher plant (N. attenboroughii), is the largest carnivorous plant, reaching up to 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) tall. Its pitchers are 30 cm (11.8 inches) in diameter and are able to capture and digest rodents and other small animals. About 25 other species are listed…
Nepenthes clipeata is perhaps the most endangered of all Nepenthes species, with only an estimated 15 plants remaining in the wild as of 1995 (although see N. pitopangii and N. rigidifolia).
Australia is a hotspot for carnivorous plants, boasting more than 250 species.
Venus Flytrap: Infamous Carnivorous Plants
Dionaea muscipula. The Venus Flytrap — popularised in children's nightmares by The Little Shop of Horrors — is one of the most captivating carnivorous plants. Like most, the plants attract prey using nectar.
And it turns out that if you stick your finger into a trap, nothing's really going to happen. If you move your finger around a little bit to trigger those trigger hairs then the trap will start to close.
Indeed, the upper, or aerial, pitchers of the plant have a pleasant odor and trap a wide variety of insects, while pitchers at ground level emit little odor and mainly capture ants.
Venus flytraps can't hurt you, even if you leave your fingers in there for a long time.
And omnivores eat both plants and animals. But some omnivores and carnivores would die if they had a completely plant-based diet. For example, cats need meat for the nutrients it contains and because they can't digest plants well. This is true for all cats, from a terrifying tiger to a teeny tabby cat.
Although it lacks a brain, the carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula has a functional short-term memory system. Researchers working in plant biology found that not only does the plant better known as the Venus flytrap know when an insect lands inside a leaf, but it can also “remember” when it arrived.
Humans can only access this vital source of energy for use by their bodies indirectly with the help of plants. Plants consumed as food provide chemical energy, which has been converted by plants from the sun's light energy through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis only occurs in plants, algae, and some bacteria.
Can a venus flytrap hurt a person? A venus flytrap is not powerful enough to hurt a human. What will happen if you put your finger in a venus flytrap is actually more dangerous to the plant than the human, as it causes the flytrap to expend energy unnecessarily.
Plants do not have nervous systems or brains. As a result, they cannot feel pain like we do. But plants do recognize when something is hurting them, Steppuhn says. Because they are rooted to the ground, they cannot simply escape.
A carnivorous plant regardless of species does need insects to survive, as they get very little or no nutrition from the soil. In fact, you often see a carnivorous plant growing on soil that is poor in food.
Venus flytraps attract their prey using the reddish lining of their leaves and a sweet nectar. Their leaves are lined with teeth giving the plant its savage appearance.
Welwitschia mirabilis: The world's toughest plant.
Carnivorous plants attract, trap and digest animals for the nutrients they contain. There are currently around 630 species of carnivorous plant known to science. Although most meat-eating plants consume insects, larger plants are capable of digesting reptiles and small mammals.
Australia is home to more carnivorous plants than anywhere else in the world, with approximately 250 species of these evolutionary wonders endemic to the continent.
As with most carnivorous plants, the Western Australian pitcher plant is photosynthetic and relies on carnivory as a means of obtaining nitrogen and other nutrients in marginal soil conditions.
The Venus Fly Trap is native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. However, they are readily available in Australia, and can even be found at Bunnings.