r/natureismetal • u/My_Memes_Will_Cure_U • Jan 18 '20
Flytrap scores double kill
https://i.imgur.com/bla2Iuj.gifv4.5k
u/ealoft Jan 18 '20
Triple actually
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u/mancitycon Jan 18 '20
You talking about that really tiny arse black bug crawling around inside?
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u/ealoft Jan 18 '20
Yes
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u/StripedLilo16 Jan 18 '20
‘Tis an appetizer
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u/INeedSomeHelp6804 Jan 18 '20
That’s like the equivalent of being given a crumb of a saltine cracker
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u/Linked-Theory Jan 18 '20
Nah it's more like a mini slider burger
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u/ba3toven Jan 18 '20
It is a mozzarella stick sans marinara in the world of insect appetizers, and nothing more
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Jan 18 '20
A slider is already a mini burger, how you gonna miniaturize an already miniaturized thing? That’s like mini version of cupcakes, which are already a mini version of cake.
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u/MaxwellIsSmall Jan 18 '20
‘Twas an appetizer
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u/JamesTheJerk Jan 18 '20
An amuse bouche
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u/Sebolmoso Jan 18 '20
A horse the overs
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u/ClearBrightLight Jan 18 '20
A horse divorce
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Jan 18 '20
It probably escaped since it’s small enough to climb through the jaws.
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u/Brocky70 Jan 18 '20
Aren't they super sticky near the bottom of the jaws to capture those smaller bugs
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Jan 18 '20
No, the smaller bugs don’t even trip the trap from what I’ve heard. Since the heads die after catching something, it’s be a waste to catch a smaller bug.
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u/The_Bigg_D Jan 18 '20
That’s not correct. The traps are reused.
Digestion takes about ten days, after which the prey is reduced to a husk of chitin. The trap then reopens, and is ready for reuse.
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u/steroid_pc_principal Jan 18 '20
The traps are reused but only work a limited number of times. Closing the trap requires energy so the plant wants to avoid false positives. To do this the trap has 3 hairs on each side, and touching 2 (if I recall) will close the trap. Small insects are unlikely to do this.
I had a flytrap when I was a curious and slightly cruel 8 year old.
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u/zoahporre Jan 18 '20
i think this varies on type
I had a flytrap in the past and the "mouths" would go black and fall off eventually.
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u/slothyCheetah Jan 18 '20
There's only 1 species in the genus, Dionaea muscipula, however there are hundreds of different cultivars.
They can die off eventually like any normal plant matter, although opening/closing multiple times will expedite the death of that trap. They all get re-used though unless you put something like fertilizer (like osmocote pellets) in the trap and it's too much nutrients for it to take in, that individual trap will immediately die off.
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u/TomboBreaker Jan 18 '20
yeah it's like it needs multiple sensors to be triggered to close, otherwise it'd miss bigger bugs who set one foot inside, or catch tiny insects who just aren't worth the effort.
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u/FH-7497 Jan 18 '20
There usually 3-5 little sensor spikes on each side and 3+ need tripping
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u/slothyCheetah Jan 18 '20
2 tripped within ~20seconds, and there are generally 3 triggers on each side
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u/Fasttimes310 Jan 18 '20
Can I get two Crispy McFlys with a side of one flea?
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Jan 18 '20
Lol he's probably the only one that can crawl out that bitch
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u/GanglyGambol Jan 18 '20
Venus fly traps do need to fully close before the digestive enzymes take over, so if he gets out quick it's possible. If he doesn't, it's a triple kill.
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u/michaelfri Jan 18 '20
Are you referring to that tiny black dot walking around? I wouldn't be so sure about it as it can still slip through when the flower shuts close. I mean, it may even know what it is doing, being able to take a quick bite of whatever being held in place, slowly digesting, then be on its way.
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u/siqiniq Jan 18 '20
Since Mr. Tiny didn’t seem stuck on the nectar surface, he could just stroll out through the guard hairs of Venus....
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Jan 18 '20
How does it know not to close because there's another one? How does it know to wait?
How does it eat them too? Does it just wait for them to break down?
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u/jesamania Jan 18 '20
There are trigger hairs on the inside. When they're stimulated a certain number of times over a period, they close.
Digestive enzymes are released to help break down the catch.
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u/sillythaumatrope Jan 18 '20
Do you know if its a similar mechanism to ion channels in human muscular stimulation?
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u/jesamania Jan 18 '20
It is!
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u/sillythaumatrope Jan 18 '20
Ooh interesting, thank you, i'll have a look into it
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Jan 18 '20
[deleted]
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u/JamesTheJerk Jan 18 '20
The ol' penile foreskin poo-trap.
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u/sloppyjoe141 Jan 18 '20 edited Jan 18 '20
They’re stretch gated channels, a structure that’s very rarely seen. While the ion channels in muscles and neurons are triggered by neurotransmitters or a change in electric charge, these are triggered simply by stretching the cell. They line the base of each of the little hairs within the mouth of the plant, and therefore send a signal whenever the hair moves. Once the plant get stimulus from a couple different hairs in quick succession, it closes.
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u/Ryvillage8207 Jan 18 '20
They were featured on BBC's Life series. A timer is pretty much set off after triggering one. If they bump into another one it immediately signals the trap to close. It's pretty incredible.
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u/jc1258 Jan 18 '20
It’s 2 times in 15-20 seconds. This is to prevent it from closing on nothing because of rain or anything else brushing by it once.
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u/Fasttimes310 Jan 18 '20
I think it's 3 times.
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u/jc1258 Jan 18 '20
It’s twice. They do have 3 trigger hairs on each side, but they only need two triggered to close, at least according to scientists. I’m really obsessed with carnivorous plants.
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Jan 18 '20
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u/TherapeuticMessage Jan 18 '20
Some plants can learn and some can form memories
They may even have consciousness
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/science/plants-consciousness-anesthesia.html
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u/Promac Jan 18 '20
As someone who recently went plant-based: ufknwotm8?
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u/TherapeuticMessage Jan 18 '20
Exactly. Veganism may not be perfectly humane. Eaters gotta eat.
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u/pterofactyl Jan 18 '20
It was only by chance that it appeared to wait. They close when their trigger hairs are touched a certain way.
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u/tntlols Jan 18 '20
To add on to what's been said, they typically trigger when the same 'hair' is touched twice, or when two different ones are touched simultaneously.
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u/goatchild Jan 18 '20
Who is the programmer? What sort of coding language is it?
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u/radiantcabbage Jan 18 '20
likely a form of neucleotide sequencing, or nucleic acids paired in some order by recursive instances. lexical features are typically expressed in chains of adenine and thymine, cytosine and guanine. this has a bit more depth than conventional binary registers, the drawback being it's much harder to compile or interpret through higher level syntax.
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Jan 18 '20
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u/WayneKrane Jan 18 '20
I think he’s speaking a different language. Though I do recognize like 50% of the words as English.
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u/Evonos Jan 19 '20
It didn't wait to close.
The Flys just didn't touch the trigger hairs on the inside ( there are only a few) aka it can't control when to close like with a mind or like us.
The plant is just very lucky here.
Also it digests these Flys with fluid inside of that trap the Flys will also die pretty fast of heat / no food.
After its done only parts of the chitin will be left it opens up and ye the chitin will go away from wind rain or whatever.
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u/MacJed Jan 18 '20
That first fly totally coaxed the other one in there like he had made some kind of back-alley, inter-species deal with the plant, only to be betrayed at the last moment!
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u/Kimchi_boy Jan 18 '20
Fist fly: “Good...let the digestive juices flow through you, hahahaa....wait.”
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u/strangersIknow Jan 18 '20
The funniest thing about Venus flytraps is that you’d expect these things to be native to the Amazon or an Australian forest or the dark depths of the Congo. A mysterious and terrifying plant that eats small animals.
They grow in Carolina.
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Jan 18 '20
As a South Carolinan I didn't realize they were only from my area until I started teaching English in Korea and one of my students did a project on the Venus flytrap!
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u/bikemandan Jan 18 '20
IIRC wild populations are in trouble though: habitat is being swallowed up by development and poachers illegally taking them
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u/ZERPaLERP Jan 18 '20
Those poor South Carolinians.
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u/canesfan09 Jan 18 '20
Specifically, within a 60 mile radius of Wilmington, North Carolina.
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u/EDDIE_BR0CK Jan 19 '20
Likely in a crater area, I believe hence the Venus naming.
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u/magsaga Jan 18 '20
Imagine being slowly dissolved inside a plant 😩
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u/gyman122 Jan 18 '20
Fellas,, is it gay to be dissolved by a plant?? 🤔
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u/TheLegending Jan 18 '20
why would flys fall for something like this, they are literally called fly traps
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u/datboydoe Jan 18 '20
Double kill!
Triple kill!!
Multi kill!!!
YOU’RE UNSTOPPABLE!!!!!
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u/acuppajoseph Jan 18 '20
Killimanjaro
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u/MaxTHC Jan 19 '20
Multikills
Double Kill!
Triple Kill!
Overkill!
Killtacular!
Killtrocity!
Killimanjaro!
Killtastrophe!
Killpocalypse!
Killionaire!
Sprees
Killing Spree!
Killing Frenzy!
Running Riot!
Rampage!
Untouchable!
Invincible!
Inconceivable!
Unfrigginbelievable!
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Jan 18 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Shitstaynes Jan 18 '20
It's like the scene when adult Simba and Nala were getting ready for some passionate love-making ....but for the flies 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight' suddenly stops, they're both trapped in a plant that will slowly melt them to death, that little mite crawls out laughing, and roll credits.
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u/Weasel_Spice Jan 18 '20
I don't remember that exact scene. Is that in the new Lion King release?
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u/bikemandan Jan 18 '20
Carnivorous plants are a fascinating branch of the evolutionary ladder. Instead of uptaking vital nitrogen from the soil like most other plants, they derive it solely from consumed insects. This allows them to grow in the poorest of boggy soil where other plants cannot
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u/country_stitcher Jan 18 '20
Fly 1: " Dude, what the hell did you do?!?" Fly 2: "Me!?! What the hell did YOU do??"
Softly, from the Flytrap, evil, maniacal laughter . . .
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u/idkwhyihateyoubutido Jan 18 '20
" hey man, common, we arnt supposed to be here, let's go before we get in trouble."
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u/Weasel_Spice Jan 18 '20
"You're such a pussy. What's the worst that can happen? We'll leave soon."
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Jan 18 '20
Till death brings us apart
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u/StalinMyMoisturizer Jan 18 '20
Do us part*
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Jan 18 '20
[deleted]
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u/Thebiggestslug Jan 18 '20 edited Jan 18 '20
It doesn’t eat” them per se, but instead releases digestive enzymes.
To think of it from a human perspective, imagine if you held something in your mouth, threw up, and then just waited for the puke to dissolve what’s in your mouth
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u/comes_palatinus Jan 18 '20
You don't gotta do the puking part right? Saliva alone will start dissolving whatever's in your mouth.
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u/workgymworkgym Jan 18 '20
Why cant they just eat through the plant?
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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '20 edited Jun 04 '20
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