Unified and diverse
The exact number isn’t settled, but there are more than 800 known species of carnivorous plants worldwide, living on every continent except Antarctica, said Ellison. And more are probably out there waiting to be added to the list.
All of those plants are united by their hunger for flesh, but they can look pretty different from one another and rely on varied strategies, in part because carnivory evolved independently in plants so many different times.
There’s the pitfall pitchers, “lobster pot traps” (which entice prey to crawl inside), sticky sundews, snap traps, and some even use suction—like tiny deadly vacuums.
Bladderworts, a rather unassuming type of carnivorous plant, ensnare small organisms like copepods suspended in water inside little sacks. To do so, the plant pumps liquid out of its flexible vessels, and then refills them with liquid when a potential prey item bumps a trigger hair, sucking the critter in. The whole process happens on the order of milliseconds and looks otherworldly.
It’s enough to make me feel extra grateful for my human size. Especially considering that not all carnivorous plants stick to invertebrates. At least one species of large pitcher plant has been documented digesting rats.
