• Question: Why are Venus fly traps carnivores?

    Asked by to Naomi on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Naomi Osborne

      Naomi Osborne answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      What an interesting question!

      It’s down to evolution why the venus fly trap eats insects. Like other plants, the venus fly trap absorbs nutrients from the soil, but because of where it lives, the soil it grows in is poor in nutrients, so it has evolved to eat insects to get more nutrients.
      The Nepenthes rajah is the the biggest carnivorous plant….able to eat a small mammals – yikes! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepenthes_rajah

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