Hey there! Have you ever noticed how many plants are around us every day? Whether you’re heading to school, the store, or a friend’s house, you’re likely to see trees, flowers, and grass. You might even spot some plants outside your window right now. Plants are everywhere, and some of them are really fascinating!
Did you know that some flowers look like hearts? And there’s a plant called the rafflesia, which has the biggest flower in the world. But be careful—it doesn’t smell very nice!
Have you ever wondered if there are plants that eat animals? You might have seen them in movies or video games. Well, guess what? Some plants do eat animals, but mostly small ones like bugs!
One of the most famous bug-eating plants is the Venus flytrap. When a bug lands on its leaves, the leaves snap shut, trapping the bug inside. The plant then absorbs nutrients from the bug, just like a sponge soaking up water. But how does it attract bugs? The Venus flytrap smells sweet to bugs, which lures them in.
Another interesting plant is the Australian sundew. It has sticky droplets on its leaves that look like water. When a thirsty bug tries to drink, it gets stuck! The sundew’s sticky leaves help it trap bugs long enough to absorb nutrients.
The cobra lily is another clever plant. It attracts bugs with a sweet smell, but instead of sticky leaves, it confuses them! Bugs crawl into its tube-like leaves, thinking the exit is at the bottom. But the slippery walls make it hard to escape, and the bugs eventually fall into a pool of liquid where the plant absorbs them.
Did you know there are even bigger carnivorous plants? The giant montane pitcher plant is the largest of them all. It has a bowl-shaped flower that fills with water. Bugs and sometimes even small animals like lizards and mice are attracted by its sweet smell. When they slip into the water, they can’t escape, and the plant absorbs nutrients from them.
One of the coolest things is that you can actually keep some of these plants at home, like the Venus flytrap and cobra lily. They’re not easy to care for, but if you treat them like a pet, you can watch them trap bugs right before your eyes!
That’s all for today! Remember, there are mysteries all around us. Stay curious and keep exploring the amazing world of plants!
Plant Observation Journal: Start a plant observation journal. Each day, choose a plant you see around your home or school. Draw a picture of it and write down any interesting features you notice, like its color, shape, or smell. Over time, see if you can spot any changes in the plant. Share your observations with your classmates and discuss what makes each plant unique.
Build a Bug Trap: Create a simple bug trap using a plastic cup and some sweet-smelling fruit. Place the trap outside and observe if any bugs are attracted to it. Discuss how this is similar to how carnivorous plants attract bugs. What did you notice about the bugs that were caught? Why do you think they were attracted to the trap?
Design Your Own Carnivorous Plant: Use your imagination to design a new type of carnivorous plant. Draw a picture of your plant and describe how it catches its food. Does it use sticky leaves, a sweet smell, or something else? Share your design with the class and explain why you think your plant would be successful in catching bugs.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(phone rings) – Hey, it’s Esther. Have you ever noticed how many plants there are around us? We’re surrounded by so many plants that sometimes we don’t even see them. Try to think for a second about the plants you pass every day on your way to school, or the store, or when visiting a friend. You probably see some trees, maybe some flowers, or even some grass. You might even be able to see plants outside your window right now. Plants are everywhere, and some of them look pretty interesting.
Check out how some flowers resemble hearts! And look at this rafflesia plant. Isn’t it huge? The rafflesia is the world’s biggest flower, but you probably wouldn’t want to smell it because it has a strong odor that some people find unpleasant.
Someone named Addison has a question about plants. Let’s give Addison a call now. (phone rings) – Hi, Esther. – Hi, Addison. – I have a question for you. Do any plants eat animals? – Ooh, that is a great question. You might have seen plants that eat animals in movies or video games, but are there plants like this in real life?
Before we go on, I’m curious, what do you think? Have you heard of any plants that eat animals? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, you ready? I’m not sure what you answered, but maybe you thought of a plant like this. This is a Venus flytrap. It’s what artists use to create some of the plant monsters we see in movies. Watch what happens when a bug touches one of its leaves. Whoa! The Venus flytrap snaps shut, and the bug can’t get out. It’s trapped. Eventually, the bug dies, and the plant begins to absorb nutrients from the bug’s body, kind of like how a sponge soaks up water.
But trapping a bug isn’t as easy as it looks. Since carnivorous plants, like the Venus flytrap, don’t have legs to chase after prey like animals would, they have to find ways to get the bugs to come to them. If you were a bug near this Venus flytrap, you would be able to smell it, and it would smell sweet. And that’s one way the Venus flytrap can attract bugs: it smells good to them!
But that’s not the only way to attract bugs. This is an Australian sundew plant. See the droplets on the stem? The drops attract thirsty bugs who want to drink, but here’s the catch: those drops aren’t for drinking; they’re for sticking, kind of like glue. Attracting a bug isn’t the only challenge a carnivorous plant faces. They have to keep it trapped long enough to eat it, which is hard to do without any arms or paws.
Once a bug lands on the sundew’s sticky leaves, it gets stuck and trapped by the plant’s long tentacles. Sticky glue is one way bug-eating plants keep their prey stuck long enough to eat, but it’s not the only method. Here’s another one. Doesn’t it look like a cobra? The cobra lily attracts bugs in the same way a Venus flytrap does, with a sweet smell, but they don’t have sticky stems like the Australian sundew. So how do they keep the bugs trapped? By confusing them.
Once a bug climbs into the tube-like top, the light shining through the tiny windows in the leaves makes the bug think that the exit is at the bottom. So it starts to climb down and down, looking for a way out, and slippery walls make it really hard to crawl out. Eventually, the bug gets tired and falls into a pool of liquid at the bottom of the tube, where it drowns and gets consumed by the plant.
Okay. So we’ve talked about some plants that eat bugs, but are there any carnivorous plants that actually eat bigger animals, not just insects? Amazingly, there are. Take a look at this one. Isn’t it huge? The giant montane pitcher plant is the largest carnivorous plant in the world. It’s called a pitcher because its bowl-shaped flower fills up with water, like a pitcher for drinks. The montane attracts bugs and animals with a sweet smell, similar to the Venus flytrap. But when the animals try to eat some, they slip on the slippery leaves and fall into the water. When they do, they can’t escape and get consumed by the plant.
Usually, the montane only eats ants, but occasionally it eats bigger animals, like lizards, birds, and even mice. The giant montane is the closest plant we have to the drooling, chomping monster plants we see in movies and video games. But plants like the giant montane, or even the Venus flytrap, don’t actually bite down on their prey like in TV shows. In fact, carnivorous plants don’t gulp down their prey at all. That’s because carnivorous plants aren’t really eating the animals as food, like you or I would eat pizza; they’re just absorbing nutrients from the animal’s body, and those extra nutrients help them survive.
So in summary, there are indeed plants that catch animals in order to absorb nutrients from their bodies. But since these carnivorous plants aren’t able to chase after their prey like animals do, they rely on other ways to attract and trap animals, like sweet-smelling nectar, or sticky drops that look like water, or even by trapping them in a pitcher of water like the giant montane.
One of the coolest things about carnivorous plants is that you can actually buy smaller plants, like the Venus flytrap and cobra lily, to keep at home. They’re not easy to take care of, but if you treat them carefully like a pet, you can actually see how they trap bugs yourself.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Addison, for asking it. Now for the next episode, we reached into our question jar and picked out three questions sent in to us that we’re thinking about answering next. When the video’s done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: How is ice cream made? Where does ink come from? Or how does dust form? So submit your vote when the video is over. We want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
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