How do Venus Flytraps Work?

I think Venus Flytraps are the coolest plants. It’s crazy that they seem to have a mind of their own! I’ve always been interested in them, so I decided to look into the science behind them.

Venus Flytraps are considered “carnivorous plants,” meaning that they “attract, capture, kill and digest insects and other animal life,” according to an article by Ann Meeker-O’Connell. These plants primarily eat insects like spiders, flies, caterpillars and slugs.  

To attract the insects, the leaves on the plant are coated with a sweet nectar substance. When the insect will land on a leaf, it will be touching a “trigger leaf,” which is one of the hair-like spikes on top of a mouth of the trap. The trigger hairs detect any motion, and if two hairs are touched, the mouth will immediately close within half a second, according to Meeker-O’Connell.

From there, the mouth of the flytrap will become airtight, sealing the insect inside.  It will then secrete “acidic digestive juices,” just like our stomachs do. The juices will dissolve the tissue and membrane of the food, using glands on the inside of the mouth. 

It usually takes the plant about five to ten days to digest a meal, but it all depends on the age of the insect and size of the plant. Once the meal is digested, an exoskeleton of the insect will be left behind, and the mouth of the trap will open, allowing the skeleton to be taken away by rain or wind, according to Meeker-O’Connell.

There is a lot of work that goes into a flytrap’s dinner! Look at this video to see this carnivorous plant in action. 

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Photo by Cascade Carnivores

4 thoughts on “How do Venus Flytraps Work?

  1. HALEY MICHELLE NELSON

    My sister and I once got carnivorous plants, she got a venus flytrap and I got a pitcher plant. Unfortunately, my sister killed hers by feeding too much burger meat and my dog chewed up my plant before it got to eat anything. It was a real shame because you can see right into the pitcher plant to see what’s going on in there as it eats the bug. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcher_plant

  2. LAURA GLENN SMITH

    Sierra,
    These plants are very interesting plants. I always wondered how they ate bugs because they dont have a digestive system as mammals do. Its interesting enough though that the plant skips the other processes of the digestive track that humans have to go through and basically just does the stomachs job. Other plants gather much of their nutrients from the soil, but venus fly traps need to get their energy from the bugs that they eat. This link below gives you more information about the process of the venus fly traps.
    http://www.botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html

  3. AREN D JORDAN

    Venus fly traps are some crazy plants! To think of a meat eating plant.. like woah man.. woah. That plant just ate a bug. Like actually ate it! The science behind them and how they digest and dissolve their prey is amazing. I’ve always wanted to have a venus fly trap of my own but unfortunately I think they need specific living conditions. Here’s another carnivorous plant, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcher_plant .

  4. BRIAN YANG

    Whenever I look at a Venus fly trap I cant help but think about when I used to play Mario and those plants came out of the piping to eat you. But yeah the way they get flies to come to them and us actually fast enough to catch a fly, whenever I try to catch a fly I cant, guess I cant move at half a second pace.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZiTACprhE

    Venus fly trap in action

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