WHAT IF YOU WERE TRAPPED IN A MEAT-EATING PLANT?





Nature has many lethal predators
who would love to eat you.
Most of these are animals.
But what about plants?





Well, there's one plant

that thrives in boggy areas

and has a taste for insects,

What would happen,

if a giant one trapped you?





Venus flytraps mainly

get their energy from the soil.

But to stay healthy,

they need to eat a couple of insects per month

during the growing season.

Ok, so you're not an insect,

but a giant flytrap

might not be able to tell the difference.

So how exactly would it eat you?

The Venus flytrap has three stiff

that are like sensitive hairs

on each of its inner leaves.

When they get touched,

the plant gets interested.

But it won't snap shut immediately.

If a little piece of dirt

or leaf lands on it,

the plant will ignore it and stay open.

But when something

or someone

bends these hairs more than three times,

like a fly,

or a terrified human,

it's mouth snaps shut,

trapping its prey.

This trapping motion is called

and it's very nasty indeed!

In this scenario,

you'd probably want to play dead

for about 12 hours.

If you're lucky, and very still,

the trap might open.

But what if you weren't so lucky?

Once you're in its grasp,

the Venus flytrap will stay shut

to keep bacteria out of its leaves.

It squeezes tightly around you,

while secreting an antiseptic juice

to stop you from turning rotten.

You'd essentially be pickled!

Mmm... Yummy.

Once inside, you would be compeletely sealed,

like some sort of biological coffin.

With little oxygen,

you'd probably pass out pretty soon.

If you try to escape,

any movement will provoke the plant

to start producing enzymes

and highly acidic digestive fluid.

These enzymes will absorb

any sodium you might have in your body,

helping the Venus flytrap transport nutrients.

Plants generally don't like sodium,

but the flytrap needs it to survive.

Humans are also rich

in phosphorus

and nitrogen,

which are vital to the plant's survival,

and lacking in its natural environment.

After about 5-12 days of digesting you,

the plant would be back open for business!

Whatever is left of you

would likely be washed out by the rain

or blown away by the wind.

So what makes the Venus flytrap

so appealing to its prey?

The plant produces a sweet nectar

that is irresistable to bugs,

making it a perfect natural insecticide

for gardeners that want to

avoid adding chemicals to their plants.

If there are tons of mosquitoes where you reside ,

it might be a good idea

to plant a bunch of those around your home!

Some companies have tried selling

the flytrap's extract

as a homeopathic supplement,

claiming to fight all kinds of ailments.

But these claims have been mostly debunked.

So, don't get trapped into thinking

it will solve your medical problems!

The real question is,

could scientists actually grow one

big enough to eat a human?

Well, they'd have to manipulate the plant's DNA.

It would take a 120-foot long flytrap

to catch a six-foot human,

which probably isn't going

to happen any time soon.


Flytraps have been known to

die from severe indigestion

when fed ground beef.

So chances are, they wouldn't

find you very tasty either.