WEBVTT - Why did Venus Flytraps Develop a Taste for Meat? 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.320 I guess what, mango? What's that? Well? So, did you 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.000 ever have a venus fly trap as a kid? I 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.479 did not. I mean my cousins Roceni and Rohan, who 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:15.800 are so cool, they had one. Yeah, all the cool 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.200 kids had on it. It's true, you know. I think 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.000 one of the things I remember most about it was 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:22.959 how impossible it was to convince my friends not to 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.799 keep making it close up like this one that I had. 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.360 And there was just something too satisfying about like taking 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:31.840 out pencil or something like that and triggering it to 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.599 close up. Yeah. I feel like every kid who's been 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:36.600 around one is guilty of like trying to feed it 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.800 something they shouldn't. Well, And I was recently reminded of 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:42.800 a little display of these carnivorous plants that one of 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.000 our teachers had put out in front of her classroom. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.479 This was back in third grade, and ye know, there 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.200 was some venus fly traps, some picture plants of course, 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.640 a few others, and it was weird how problematic this 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.800 display became because you had this one group of kids 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.360 that they couldn't resist, and so every day at recess 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:02.640 or anytime they were outside, they would try to find 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:07.200 anything's to feed the plant like insects, whatever they could find, 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:09.320 and things got a little out of hand when one 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.319 day the teacher found a matchbox car inside one of 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.920 the picture plants. I had no idea. I didn't think 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:21.200 mashbox cars tasted like meat, well me either, but apparently 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.280 they did. But it really did show just how impossible 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.760 it is for a group of kids to resist feeding 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.720 these plants that they saw as just being so exotic. 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:31.679 And you know, keep in mind, this was I think 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.120 a year or two after the remake of Little Shop 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:36.679 of Horrors had come out, so you know, this idea 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.000 of a ferocious flesh eating plant was it was kind 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.240 of already in kids minds, and it actually led to 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.000 the bigger problem, which was that some of the older 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.320 kids in the school were telling some of the kindergarteners 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.000 that these plants were going to eat them. Of course, 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.200 and it only took a couple of kindergarteners who simply 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.160 refused to walk past the display to put it to 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.920 an end, and the display disappeared as quickly as it 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:03.360 went up. Or else, I guess it just got moved 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.360 to the science lab, but either way, it was no 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.360 longer in the hallway for kids to see poor kids. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:10.920 But you know, even if you're horrified by the plants, like, 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.000 there's something so fascinating about them, right, yeah, And it's 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.440 what made us want to tackle today's topic, you know, 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.920 to talk about things like the plant that Darwin described 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.120 as the most wonderful plant in the world, to think 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.200 about which animal actually likes to spend its nights inside 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:27.760 a picture plant, and of course, which state is the 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:32.040 only one with an official state carnivorous plant. There's so 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:56.040 much to bide into, so let's dive in. Ya. Hey, 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.600 their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:00.720 Pearson and it's always I'm and by my good friend 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.400 Manes Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.120 glass tending to his own venus fly trap but trying 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.920 to feed it. Is that a slim slim him? Oh wow, 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.519 that's our friends and producer Tristan McNeil. I know, I 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.079 already told him, I don't think it's going to eat 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:17.800 a slim to him, Tristan, but he just looked me 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:22.240 in the eye and said, meat is meat. Kind of 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.160 a weird catchphrase there, Tristan. But this is something that 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.079 a lot of people are actually curious about is what 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.519 types of meat do Venus fly traps preferred? You know? Yeah, 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.000 so usually, of course they go for insects and spiders, 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.560 though I did read that some fly traps will occasionally 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.960 catch a small frog for dinner. And there they're also 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.120 these carnivorous pitcher plants in the Philippines that are big 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.160 enough to digest rats and shrews. Wow, so that's actually 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:48.440 true then? Is that something that happens often? Not exactly, 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.680 so frogs and rodents are pretty big meals for carnivorous plants. Uh, Basically, 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:54.920 it's like a I don't know, like if if if 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.640 human ate an entire cow or something, Right, It's not 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.560 something that we do very often, just because of how 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.120 much time and energy it takes to digest something that huge. Yeah, 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.520 I don't eat an entire cow every day. I feel 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.680 like that's just more of a sometimes food for special occasions, 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.560 the full cow. But I mean, seriously, though, how amazing 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.480 is it that there are plants that can actually eat animals? 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.440 I mean, it's kind of terrifying, but it's also pretty incredible. Yeah, 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.840 It's one of those things that always measures to amaze me. 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.800 And creep me out, like every time I think about it. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.000 You know, it also just seems so unplant like. Uh, 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.479 it feels like, you know, a plant that hunts and 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.919 traps and kills and digests the meal. Like those aren't 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.280 plant activities. I don't mean to stereotype, but and that's 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.679 why today's show was such a fun one to put together, 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.120 because so much of what we found that was just 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.880 completely unexpected. So today we'll be answering all sorts of 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.200 bizarre questions that most of us have never thought to ask, 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.919 things like why did carnivorous plants evolve a taste for meat? 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.800 Venus fly traps really know how to count? And how 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.280 come Thomas Jefferson was so obsessed with meat eating plants. 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:03.520 There's a lot to cover today, But where do you 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:05.640 think you want to start? Mango, So, one of the 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:07.080 things we should probably get out of the way right 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.760 up front is why carnivorous plants eat meat in the 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.520 first place. I think it's clearly because they're they're evil. 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:14.640 We talked about the timing of the movie a little 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.960 shop of our Scientifically speaking, I think that is the answer, right. Yeah, So, 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.080 you know, one weird thing is I've never seen that 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.400 movie as strange as it is, but uh, and I 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.160 know it's beloved, but uh, you know, for actual carnivorous plants, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.960 meat isn't really what they're after. Like they don't capture 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.120 live prey for the thrill of the hunt or whatever, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.159 or for the taste for that matter. Um, you know, 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:37.599 as you can guess they're they're just doing it as 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.240 a way to obtain important nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.240 I mean, but it feels like there's got to be 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.680 an easier way to get those nutrients, Like why not 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.520 just absorb them through their roots like those nice, you know, 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.880 peaceful plants they're out there. Yeah, that's right. I mean, 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.360 it is kind of an extreme measure when you think 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.760 about it, but they had to develop that way because 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.480 carnivorous plants tend to live in places where the soil 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.840 is really then and pour and nutrients. Um so you 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.080 might think of like a swamp or a bog and 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.240 and since the plants can't get what they need from 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.440 the soil alone, they get it by digesting this live prey. Basically, 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.360 the nutrients that come from the prey helped the plant 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.039 grow faster and increase their reproductive odds. All right, So 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:21.080 if the metating trait was an evolutionary response to poor soil, 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.240 then where did the carnivorous plants first come from? Because 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.919 I'm just curious which part of the world had soils 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.720 so bad that the plants were having to figure out, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.960 like how to eat flies and stuff like that, just 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.120 to figure out how to survive. Yeah, I mean, carnivorous 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.280 plants are native to places all over the world, and 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.800 in fact, you can find them on every continent but Antarctica. 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.000 And it's interesting because it suggests that throughout history plant 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:49.120 species have evolved carnivorous tendencies again and again. In fact, 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:51.720 that they've done it no less than nine times according 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.479 to researchers. And uh, any place in the world that 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.560 had lousy enough soil basically became this breeding ground for 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:01.440 carnivorous plants. And today they're actually about six hundred unique 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.039 species worldwide. So you're saying that each of those six 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.560 hundred can be traced back to one of you know, 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.840 ten or so common ancestors. And that's right, because even 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.080 though several different plants species hit upon the idea of 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.720 eating meat, they came up with totally different like kinds 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.880 of traps for sourcing that meat. Um. You know, we're 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.760 probably most familiar with venus fly traps, which have those 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.840 spring trap jaws and and that they used to snare 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.760 their prey. But uh, you know, other carnivorous plants have 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.760 their own strategies. There's, um, there's the sunde plant, which 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.120 uses a bunch of sticky tentacles to like grab passing bugs. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:39.560 And um there's something called the butterboard which has this broad, 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.240 flat leaf and and that kind of acts as like 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.040 a fly paper, so an insect gets stuck in place, 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.160 and then the leaf glands cover the bug and digestive mucus, 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.800 and you know, all the nutrients are then absorbed straight 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.720 into the leaf. A nightmare. It's like being chained to 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.640 a wall while the wall eat you. It's just not 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.320 something to think, what's the wall is dripping this gross 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.560 google over you at the same time, you know, as 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.560 memorable as the butter awarts trap is, my my favorite 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.720 carnivorous plant is the picture plant, and they're probably the 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.240 second most known next to the flat traps. They have 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.560 these specialized leaves that use color and and also sent 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.760 to draw insects to their picture like organs, and then 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.640 thanks to all these downward facing hairs on the leaves, 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.360 the insects aren't able to crawl back out. Instead, they 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:27.240 just slip into this deadly enzyme bath that slowly digest them. 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.080 I can see why that's your favorite. I mean, who 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.120 doesn't love the old dunkleman a tub of acid routine. 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.680 And it's impressive. Yeah, but I mean I get that 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.960 it's gruesome, but I kind of like how well designed 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.520 it is, right, Like it's super tricky. And you know, 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.400 picture plants can be gross too. They don't actually have 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.319 a way of expelling their waste, so as the plant 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.200 gets older, it's picture just kind of fills up with 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:54.079 all these indigestible insect parts until it kind of becomes 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:58.800 this big bug graveyard. And while the picture plants acid 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.640 bad sounds like kind of bad. The thing is like 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.000 all carnivorous plants rely on some kind of chemical cocktail 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.240 to digest their prey um fly traps injected into the 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.640 chambers where they trapped their prey um butter warts, as 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.000 we mentioned, secrete it through the leaves. And in fact, 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.120 there was a study last year out of the University 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.240 of Buffalo, and it shows just how similar this technique 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:23.200 is across species. Basically, it proved that different carnivorous plants, 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.040 including ones that were only distantly related, all used the 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.760 same molecular recipe for digestive fluids. And that's despite the 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.120 fact that some of these plants are native to different 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.440 continents and evolved separately over the course of millions of years. 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.680 Oh wow, that's interesting. So I guess they took fluid 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.640 samples and compared them across species or something. Yeah, exactly, 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.640 and they found that all the plants relied on similar enzymes. 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.000 But what was even more amazing was that the enzymes 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.280 aren't unique to carnivorous plants. They're actually used by non 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.040 carnivorous plants as a way to fight off pathogens. All right, 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.960 so then when the carnivorous plants kind of adapted and 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.839 repurpose the enzymes for use and digestion. But I mean, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.640 how did that work? Exactly? The example I came across 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:07.440 as this polymer called kitan, and apparently it's what the 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:11.640 cell walls of fungi are made from. So plants obviously 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:13.280 don't want a bunch of fun guy growing on their 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.079 roots and choking the life out of them. So they 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.280 produced the special enzyme to break the kiting down and 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:22.080 keep these funguses at bay. But in the case of 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.960 carnivorous plants, that enzyme has been repurposed to eat away 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:30.240 like insect exoskeletons and uh that also happens to be 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.560 made of kitan. So it's it's a pretty wild case 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.679 of plants kind of reprogramming their existing genes to suit 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.240 this more meat loving lifestyle. Alright, So so maybe all 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.880 carnivorous plants share this same gross bond, But I still 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:44.559 think you need to convince me a little bit more 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.840 about picture plants. You're really on this. It's that that 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.640 we know that flooded grave already described has to make 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.640 them like fifty times grosser than the other meat eaters 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.640 that are out there. It's just kind of weird. Well, 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:57.199 what if I told you that a picture plant is 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:02.080 actually a cradle of life that you'd just be making 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:03.959 up words? What what do you mean by that? So 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:05.719 one of the things that I'm surprised to learn is 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.840 that there are actually some species of super tiny frogs 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.040 that lay their eggs in the safety of a picture plant. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.160 And then when they hatch, these baby tadpoles spend their 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.880 first weeks of life swimming in that murky water, right 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.160 up until they're old enough to sort of hop out 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.240 and strike out on their own. You know. There's also 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.040 a mammal in Borneo that just likes the cozy up 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.040 to picture plants. It's called the common wooly bat, and 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.640 apparently one of its favorite places to sleep is snuggled 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:36.360 up inside a picture plant. Wait, it actually sleeps inside 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.080 the picture Like, why would it want to sleep in 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.680 a bunch of dead bug water? What's the incentive there? Well, 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.440 that's what makes this particular species so special, So it 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.280 actually grows two different kinds of pictures. The first is 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.080 your standard bug catching picture. It's close to the ground, 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.280 it smells sweet, and it's filled with these digestive fluids. 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.960 But the second type of picture is designed especially for bats. 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.840 It's higher up, it's dry inside, and it shaped almost 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.520 like a little reflector dish so that the bats can 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:07.199 easily spot it with their sonar. Well, what's so special 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.360 about bats? Like, why would the plants kind of roll 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.400 out the red carpet just just for them? I guess 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.120 it's that the plants are actually after the guana or 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.640 you know, the bat waste, and every time the bats 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.880 spend the night, they relieve themselves and leave nutrients for 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.360 the plants to absorb. So it's kind of like a 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.720 bat hotel where everyone just pays for the room with feces. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.559 Disgusting business model, but whatever works. But I mean, I 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.760 think you sort of brought me around on the picture plants. 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.080 They are pretty enterprising. I have to give you that 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:37.920 they are. And and you know, picture plants aren't the 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.680 only ones either. You know, carnivorous plants in general have 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.800 this alien kind of cleverness about them where when you 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:47.280 look at the level of ingenuity and precision on you know, 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.960 how they display their traps, it's kind of easy to 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.319 forget your dealing with a plant and not some kind 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.599 of intelligent animal. Yeah, I know what you mean. And 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:57.880 you know, I think the venus fly trap would probably 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:00.559 be a good example of the kind of have the 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.040 kind of intelligence that you're talking about. So what do 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:04.680 you say we take a closer look at it? What 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.640 makes those tick? Yeah? That sounds great. First, let's take 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:25.520 a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.160 we're talking about the cutthroat world of carnivorous plants. You know, 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.640 despite their violent tendencies meeting, plants have had their fair 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:36.360 share of admirers over the years. Charles Darwin, for instance, 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.560 was a big fan of carnivorous plants, and honestly, maybe 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.400 too big of a fan. He wrote an entire book 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.679 about them, and at one point he even declares the 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.880 venus fly trap to be the most wonderful plant in 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.440 the world. He also went to bat for the plants 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.720 against scientists who weren't as enthusiastic about meat eating plants 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.400 as he was. Like, you remember those those sun do 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.439 things that you mentioned earlier in the plants with the 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.839 sticky tentacles. Well, apparently Darwin knew a botanist who didn't 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.640 think sun dues were anything to ride home about. So 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.560 Darwin sent a note to the guy saying, quote, you 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.319 are unjust on the merits of my beloved sund It 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.640 is a wonderful plant, or rather a most sagacious animal. 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:16.720 I will stick up for the sun due to the 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.920 day of my death. I mean, it does sound like 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.320 he was really smitten. And it's funny because Thomas Jefferson 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:25.880 had a similar fascination with flat traps, though I don't 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:27.680 think he ever got to study them up close the 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.280 way Darwin did. Yeah, that's true, but I mean it's 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.320 it's it's not for lack of trying. I was actually 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.520 looking into this a little and it turns out that 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.920 Jefferson had an especially tough time tracking down his own 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:40.960 venus fly traps. It's a little weird because you have 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.240 to consider that some venus fly trap species are actually 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.600 native to the Carolinas. In fact, this is a little 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.120 bit random, but North Carolina is the only state to 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:54.000 select an official state carnivorous plant, and that is, of course, 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.440 the venus fly trap. But a great fact. You know, 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.480 it is very smart of North Carolina to have snapped 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.080 off that the first round of the you know, carnivorous 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:06.720 plant draft exactly. But did uh, you know, I wanted 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:08.960 to talk about Jefferson where, um did he ever get 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.200 his hands on a fly trap? Well, we actually don't 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:13.800 know for certain. I mean, what we do know is 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.440 that Jefferson started a letter campaign back in seventeen eighty six, 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.400 and he was requesting that multiple people sent him either 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:24.440 fly trap seeds or fully grown plants as soon as possible. 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.160 I guess this was an urgent matter. And unfortunately, the 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.600 plants were so hard to come by and the postal 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.000 service was so unreliable back then that Jefferson didn't actually 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.360 get his hands on the seeds until a full eight 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.200 years later. So in January eighteen o four, President Jefferson 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.320 wrote a letter to Timothy Bloodworth saying, I thank you 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:44.360 for the seed of the fly trap. It is the 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.880 first I have ever been able to obtain, and she'll 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.520 take great care of it. So he finally got it. Then, Yeah, 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:51.840 he definitely got some seeds in eighteen o four, but 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.720 unfortunately the trail goes cold after that until like eighteen 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.320 o nine or so, and Jefferson writes his last mention 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.280 of fly trap ups in this manuscript that's about gardening, 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.320 and it's it's kind of an ominous but a little 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.560 bit confusing of an entry, so he simply wrote, sowed 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:11.800 seeds of Diane I a muscupula in a pot. They 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:16.040 were several years old, so I'm guessing nothing came of that, 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.920 but it's kind of amazing that he even't bothered, Like, 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.040 after what eight years he was asking for these seeds, 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:23.960 he finally got them and then he didn't bother them 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.400 to plant them for like another five years. Like I'm 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.600 kind of questioning his commitment to the plants, I guess, 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.280 so it feels a little odd, But you might want 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:35.280 to excuse him because he probably got a little bit 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.760 busy with the whole Louisiana purchased thing, got a little distracted. 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.800 But you know, one thing that Jefferson and Darwin would 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.080 both have liked is a recent study that showed that 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.720 the venus fly trap actually knows how to count. So 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.560 what does that mean exactly? Like, what is it counting? Well, 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.600 actually a few things, but I feel like we got 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.480 to back up just a little bit to understand how 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:59.240 the fly trap functions. So, for starters, each plant has 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.800 multiple wraps, each of which is made of the specialized 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.639 leaves covered in these tiny sensory hairs. And so the 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.199 leaves of the trap, as we mentioned, secrete this sweet 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.800 smelling nectar to help lure in those hungry insects. And 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.440 when one of these visitors brushes against the plant sensory hairs, 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.280 the trap can actually snap shut within a tenth of 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:22.919 a second. So then after the digestive period that lasts 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:26.280 a week or longer, the trap reopens and the husk 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.400 of the insect blows away, while the process starts all 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.200 over again. So each trap catches about three bugs before 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:36.240 it wears out and and really has to be replaced. 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.320 But against is the plant uses multiple traps at once, 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.560 they never have to miss a meal. I like how 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:46.119 poetic that's onns the husk of the insect blows away. Beautiful, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:48.600 But you know, it also sounds like the system kind 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.600 of runs like clockwork. But um, I'm kind of curious 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.359 till where does the counting come in? Well, clockwork actually 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.160 isn't a bad analogy, because the actions of the fly 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.280 trap are basically mccanic uncle. I mean, their their movements 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.720 aren't directed by any kind of consciousness or anything like that. 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.640 But it doesn't mean there isn't some sort of calculation 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.679 that's going on. So, for instance, fly traps can actually 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.600 count the number of times that their prey comes in 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.600 contact with the sensory hairs that are on its leaves, 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.639 and each of those touches brings about its own unique reaction. 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.960 So in the very first touch, for example, the plant 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.080 actually does nothing. And this makes sense if you think 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.560 about it, because you know, a single touch could be 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:29.720 a false alarm. You could have a rain drop or 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:31.960 a falling leaf, or you know, bait from a slim 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.880 gym or something like that, but essentially something that wouldn't 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.800 be worth the energy of closing the trap. So instead 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.080 the plant waits, and it waits on that second signal, 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.520 and if one arrives within the next twenty seconds, then 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.399 the trap spring shot on what is hopefully this nice, 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.720 juicy cricket or something. So it really is pretty amazing 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.560 how it how it does function like clockwork, that's fascinating. 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:57.520 So so the first touch kind of sets off this 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.080 kind of internal timer in the plant, which is pretty wild. Yeah, 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.520 but the plant actually doesn't even stop there. I mean, 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.440 it keeps on counting. So after the trap has sprung, 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.679 the prey is still alive and it keeps on struggling, 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.680 and as it does so, it bumps into the trigger 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:16.040 hairs even more so, the third and fourth touches send 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.960 these electrical impulses to help prepare the trap for digestion. 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:22.600 Then the fifth touch tells the gland cells in the 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.680 trap to begin producing digestive enzymes, and so from there, 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:32.320 each additional touch produces these proportionately you know, greater enzymes 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.600 being created, you know, in order to help digest the food. There, 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.560 So the more in insects struggles or the bigger and 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:40.919 stronger it is, you know, it'll it'll mean that the 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.080 plant has to release more enzymes in order to fully 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.800 digest it. And it's crazy to think about because the 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:49.520 fact that a fly is fighting for its life is 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.600 actually the very thing that brings about its death. And 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.720 the harder it fights, the more the plant learns how 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.320 to kill it. It's it's it's pretty wild. Yeah, I 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.120 didn't realize plant transfer so methought unicle about their murders. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.199 I guess it's it's true, but I mean, if it's 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.720 any consolation, though, the captured insect isn't alive as it's 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:10.680 being digested, And and that's because the trap is actually 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.960 hermetically sealed after you know, a few hours, so the 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:16.600 insect has run out of air well before this digestive 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:18.720 fluid has pumped into to kind of do its thing, 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:20.600 which I guess is a little more humane. But I 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.320 am curious how the plant knows when its prey is 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.280 fully digested, Like does it count out like a hundred 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.639 mississippis and and then just fits it out. You know, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:32.160 I think plants count by Mississippi's as well. It's pretty 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.959 it's an amazing fact about nature like that. It's actually 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.360