There are many plants that eat insects or other animals. So here you are eating plants and being a vegetarian where as some plants are eating meat…Curious??

Let’s talk about meat-eating carnivorous plants. These plants have adapted to grow in places where the soil is weak in nutrients specially Nitrogen. There are around 630 such species that trap the prey and absorb the nutrition from the trapped animal.

There are few common mechanisms that these plants use:

• Pitcher Plants trap prey in a rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive juices – Once in a while a small bird or a mouse will discover that a pitcher plant isn’t a good place to get a drink.
• Sticky glue is used to trap the prey by Fly Paper – Sticky dew-like droplets on the leaf hair of the Alice sundew trap insects that become “stuck.” Titan butterwort snacks on insects trapped on its sticky fly-paper-like leaves.
• Snap traps utilize rapid leaf movements – Venus Flytraps just closes the lid to grab a bite of its victims.

Carnivorous plants grow mostly in moist areas, and all have one thing in common – hairy leaves.  North America has more carnivorous plant species than any other continent.

If you are living in such an area try taking out a book on plants and checkout your backyard.  You might just find a carnivore plant! But don’t worry; carnivorous plants do not eat people.

If you do find one you would know who is snacking on all the insects, and keeping your yard insect free :)