00:00Venus flytraps are one of nature's most interesting plants, as they're one of the
00:07few that's carnivorous, meaning they actually eat living creatures.
00:11However, despite being, well, plants, the mechanisms of their electrically activated
00:15jaws were never quite understood.
00:17That is, until now.
00:19Researchers from Linköping University in Sweden say that it was only a few years ago
00:23that botanists were able to figure out what instigated the closing of a Venus flytrap's
00:26jaws.
00:27A Venus flytrap has two sequential strokes of highly sensitive hairs within its mouth,
00:31which causes an influx of charged calcium ions to close the fanged plant's jaws.
00:35However, this was only the first step, with this new study mapping the precise propagation
00:39of those signals.
00:40The charged calcium ions create what's called an action potential, and even though plants
00:44don't have a nervous system like us, this action potential causes similar reactions
00:48in the plant nonetheless.
00:50So researchers used electrodes that could cover much of the plant's lobes, or what make
00:53up its carnivorous head.
00:55Meaning that if the sensory hairs were touched twice within 30 seconds, they would snap shut
00:59on the second encounter, and those signals would radiate at a constant speed.
01:02However, if they were touched with more than a minute in between, the electrical signal
01:06would move faster on the second encounter.
01:08Meaning, it appears that the plant was more aware, almost as if the Venus flytrap was
01:12on guard.
Comments