Venus Flytrap

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Ranked #9,367 in Animals, #251,968 overall

Dionaea muscipula 

The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves comes into contact with one or more of the hairs twice in succession, the trap closes. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value.

The plant's common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, whereas the genus name refers to Dione. Dionaea is a monotypic genus closely related to the waterwheel plant and sundews.

New YouTube vids 

Venus fly trap - The Private Life of Plants - David Attenborough - BBC wildlife

David Attenborough looks at how this well known carnivorous plant captures its prey. From the BBC. Watch more Attenborough from BBC Worldwide here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D66D4CFB9402A981

Runtime: 208
609688 views
1139 Comments:

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