The Hunting Process of Carnivorous Plants

        Venus flytraps（捕蠅草）, pitcher plants（豬籠草）, Drosera spatulata（小毛氈苔）, these noted carnivorous plants are famous to many people. However, have you ever wondered the evolutionary mechanism of these unusual plants and how they absorb the nutrient to maintain life? Million years ago, the carnivorous plants grew on the barren and slightly acidic wetland, where their habitat was lack of essential nutrients (nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer), and many plants were died of nutritional deficiency out of the leaching process, which means the extraction from substances in solid by liquid. Therefore, the carnivorous plants gradually developed a distinct method to adapt to this harsh living environment—in other words, they trapped insects and small animals as supplement for minerals and enzymes. These extraordinary creatures also play a complex and special role as both the secondary consumer and producer in the ecological system. Not only is the evolutionary process of carnivorous plants fascinating and surprising, but also their hunting process is a biological miracle worth our further understanding. There are three steps involved in the carnivorous plant’s curious hunting process: attracting insects, trapping prey with the distinctive organs, and secreting the digestive juice to take in the nutrients.