For those of you new to the Venus flytrap…..
The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to North and South Carolina in the United States of America. Many people think that the Venus flytrap is a tropical plant but in fact it grows in the wild in similar conditions to Australia really with warm summers and cold winters (although our winters aren’t nearly as cold as they experience in America).
The main characteristic of the Venus Flytrap (VFT) is its unique mechanism of catching prey. It has specialised traps that it has formed at the end of its leaves. These traps are generally the shape of a clam shell and will remain open until something triggers the very fine hairs on the inside of the trap face. If you look closely at the trap you may notice that there is around 2-3 small hairs protruding from either side of the face and typically they seem to be in a triangle shape. When one of these hairs is touched twice or two are touched once then the trap will snap shut trapping whatever has triggered it inside the trap. The critter inside will then wriggle against the trigger hairs while inside the trap which causes the trap to close even more tightly and form an air tight seal before it releases digestive enzymes to break down the critter so that it can absorb the nutrients from it. It takes about a week before the trap will have finished digestion and then it will open back up again ready for another meal. If the critter inside the trap does not move once it is trapped inside the trap will open back up again by the following day so it is ready to try and try and catch a meal again.
I found a short YouTube video narrated by the great David Attenborough on the Venus Flytrap. This is one of my favourite videos that I have found so please watch and enjoy!
I hope this information has been useful to you.