WEBVTT

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Animals dont eat it;
it eats animals.

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And there's one right here.

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Watch.

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This is Venus's flytrap.

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It shapes its traps
from the ends of its leaves.

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One or two hairs on their
surface act as triggers.

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Here comes a meal.

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Touch the hair
and the trap is sprung.

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There's now no escape.

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The beetle's struggles stimulate the plant
to close the trap even more tightly.

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It now produces digestive acids from
glands on the inner surface of the leaf,

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which first kill and then
dissolve its victim's body.

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Growing in the same Carolina swamp,
there's another carnivorous plant.

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These are the trumpet pitchers.

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They, like the Venus's flytrap,

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find so little nutriment in this
impoverished water-logged soil

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that they supplement it
with the bodies of animals.

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Their traps are also
formed from leaves,

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but leaves that have
been folded lengthways

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to make a vertical tube
which fills with water.

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(birds chirping,
insects buzzing]

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These spectacular trumpets
may look like flowers,

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but, of course,
they're not.

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Though in a sense,
this bright yellow top to them

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serves the same
purpose as a petal.

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It's an advertisement
of a delicious reward.

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And the reward itself
is under here.

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Sweet nectar.

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But if an insect
comes to collect it,

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and strays into the
mouth of the trumpet,

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then it's doomed.

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(Dramatic music,
animal noises)

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The inside of the throat
of the trumpet

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is covered with microscopic
downward-pointing spines.

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As long as it stays on the rim,
the ant is alright.

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But if it strays off it...

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it falls into a pond
of water and drowns.

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The tiny corpse dissolves

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and the marsh pitcher
absorbs the resulting soup.

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And where one ant goes,
others are likely to follow.

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(dramatic music continues)

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The marsh pitcher
attracts other animals too.

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This frog may be hoping to eat some
of the insects before the pitcher does,

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but if it loses its footing,
the plant will eat <i>it.</i>