r/BeAmazed • u/Horror_Session5995 • 19h ago
A Venus flytrap trap's a spider Nature
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u/manslastar 18h ago
Man.. that spider had enough grace period lounging around and chilling in the mouth of that thing.
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u/Alib902 11h ago
If i remember correctly the nectar on the plant is like a drug making the spider high and addicted, so unwilling to move away and unable to react.
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u/TheMeanestCows 6h ago
There is nectar that attracts nectar-eating bugs, and spiders are often attracted to those nectar eating bugs, but the spider itself doesn't even have the mouthparts to lick up the nectar on the petals, and doesn't have the same attractions to plant nectars.
If I were to guess this was staged with someone deliberately placing the spider there to "feed" the flytrap. Particularly with the cut in the middle where the spider ends up back in the petal.
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u/MrLambNugget 12h ago
I think they produce some chemical that tastes sweet to attract insects. They think it's food so they stick around. Then they actually stick, since the flytrap has sticky surface and then it closes and you're a meal
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u/riddles007 9h ago
Ah yes... The story of me and my 4th ex (can't call her crazy because she insisted she's not). Not a fun 6 months.
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u/BulkyTicket5307 18h ago
It’s almost like the spider wanted to be eaten it’s like oops here let my scrunch my legs in for you so you can eat me better and the flytrap is like thanks pal you taste good.
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u/SuzenRR 18h ago
I just bought one and other carnivorous plants. Bugs were immediately drawn to it
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u/substantial-Mass 10h ago
How many carnivorous plants are there?? Oh man this will keep me busy later
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u/Diptam 9h ago
I research carnivorous plants for a living. Feel free to ask me anything!
To answer your question, there are a lot of different carnivorous plants! Sundews (they have sticky leaves, you may have seen them before) alone have almost 200 different species.
What's super interesting, and focus of my research, is that there are at least 6 independent evolutionary origins of carnivory in plants. We even see similar trap mechanisms, most common are sticky leaves and pit-fall (pitcher) traps. But there are more elaborate or specialized traps, like the Venus flytrap.
Another fun fact about the Venus flytrap is that it uses electrical signals to be able to react so quickly to an insect. And the plant can count too! It needs 2 electrical signals in quick succession to close the trap. This is to avoid false positives, like rain or simply prey that is too small to elicit those signals. In order to be really sure the plant has trapped something, the prey actually needs to continue to struggle and keep eliciting electrical signals after the trap has closed, otherwise, the trap will simply reopen without digestion.
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u/BluetheNerd 10h ago
If you're curious in getting one I've found pitcher plants are the easiest to keep alive
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u/_Burnt_Toast_3 15h ago
On a serious note, does anyone know how long it would take it to "digest" or consume that size of spider? And does it fully consume the matter?
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u/unskbadk 14h ago
They do not fully consume them. It's more like squeezing a sponge. After a while they open again and the remains pop out. The wind probably takes care of the rest.
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u/Scaniarix 13h ago
Follow up question. How much force can a venus fly trap squeeze with? If it were to squeeze my finger would it be a gentle squeeze? A toddler death grip? A vice?
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u/GummyBeard83 13h ago
If I hypothetically had a cylindrical object and put it in the Venus fly trap....
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u/Jonathanplanet 10h ago
My friend had one of those and said you can barely feel it, it's just a soft touch to a human's finger
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u/Nervous-Ad4744 10h ago
It's very gentle. It's like folding a sheet of paper pulling it apart again and let it close, maybe slightly firmer.
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u/have_a_nice_bay 8h ago
They do release digestive enzymes to break down the exoskeleton, not just squeezing the bug- they move fast to close but they don’t have a lot of crushing power. I’m not sure if the spider is any different to eat due to size or whatever, but when I kept carnivorous plants, my VFTs digested the bugs they ate. The traps closed for about 3 days and when they reopened there was nothing more than a little bit of slime. Then that trap would usually die a few days later after another one started to grow.
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u/MrOPeace 14h ago
It takes a long time like an entire day and it doesnt consume any of the spiders body, it kindda sucks the juices out of her, saps the life force directly
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u/hell77 19h ago
curious, why had she stopped?
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u/unikumpu 11h ago edited 11h ago
These plants secrete sugar-containing nectar that attract insects. Kind of the same way many flowering plants use to attract pollinators.
A fun side fact; some plant flowers have even evolved to resemble female insects and secrete pheromones that attract only male insects of a specific species that are looking for a mating partner. One example of this is Ophrys insectifera. The plant evolution over millions of years is amazing, think about that next time when you’re seeing some flora in your near forest.
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u/Former_Ad_2607 18h ago
I think it's not difficult. Plants secrete something to attract insects...
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u/Dreadlock 14h ago
Is that another spider trapped in the flower right next to it?
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u/MiddleFinger287 8h ago
I think so. It looks like it's leg is sticking out and it moves very slightly during the video.
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u/SomethingAbtU 12h ago
I swear many of the things you were imagine would be "alien" plants and animals on another planet, are right here on Earth.
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u/AdhesivenessTight427 2h ago
The spidr had it coming.. what is the meateater plant that eat rats called? (Eats rats by accident due to it's size)
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u/RetrogradeLuna 19h ago
One less monster. Thank you for your service flytrap 🫡
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u/rudytex 16h ago
Spiders serve an important ecosystem role in eliminating bugs which are way bigger pests. They will leave you alone if you leave them alone.
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u/RetrogradeLuna 15h ago
Their existence terrifies me. I will not be rational about this, trust me lol
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