Rumors of piranhas, piranhas, and man-eating trees are not uncommon, especially in many film and television works, mainly referring to some plants that prey on small insects, which sounds incredible. In fact, these piranhas, piranhas, and piranha trees do not only exist in film and television works, but also exist in our real world as carnivorous plants of many people.
According to botanists, more than 600 carnivorous plants have been discovered in the world so far, which is really incredible. In fact, these carnivorous plants are not all rare and rare plants, there are some carnivorous plants that are very common in daily life, they are all around us, but we have not paid attention to it. One such is the most common carnivorous plant, Nepenthes nepenthes, which has a total inflorescence with green or purple florets and a bottle-like body at the top of the leaf that is a tool for preying on insects. The cap of the bottle body can secrete a fragrance and attract insects. The mouth of the bottle is smooth, and the insect will slip into the bottle, drown by the liquid secreted at the bottom of the bottle, and decompose the nutrients of the insect body, which are gradually digested and absorbed.
The carnivorous plants we are talking about above are small gadgets that prey on insects and small animals, and we are going to talk about a super man-eating tree that preys on humans. So, what kind of man-eating tree is this man-eating tree that has grown for more than 4,000 years, and how does it eat? Today, let's explore the secrets together.
It is said that in Morisk, Africa, there is a man-eating tree that has grown for more than 4,000 years, this is not an ordinary man-eating tree, this is a man-eating tree with a personality, it is very picky eater, and it is not a general picky eater, this man-eating tree seems to have no interest in men, it is only interested in women, only eat women. In these 4,000 years, it has eaten countless women, and it can be said that it is a "lustful" man-eating tree.
In 1971, a French family of four reportedly came to Africa for a vacation near the Maurice Forest, and they had a great time, but unfortunately they camped near the legendary man-eating tree. When they had set up their tents, they were playing nearby, and they were very happy, but suddenly the tranquility of the forest was shattered by a scream. It turned out that when the only woman in the family of four was walking under a tree, a tall ancient tree opened its own "blood basin mouth" and swallowed the woman into her own body. When the others rushed over, not a single corpse was seen, and the woman was swallowed up by the man-eating tree, and even the bone slag was gone.
Later, the scientists arrived on the news and began to investigate the man-eating tree, and they found that the man-eating tree was a super man-eating tree, unlike other carnivorous plants that only preyed on insects and small animals, but super liked to prey on humans and liked to eat women, and in the study, one of the maids in their company was also missing. Experts speculate that this man-eating tree that has survived for 4,000 years, with a huge body and a "blood basin mouth", will take advantage of people's inattention to swallow a mouthful, and then digest the swallowed person through the secretion of the liquid in the body, convert it into their own nutrients, not so much that it is a tree, it is better to say that it is a monster, after watching the back of a cold, it is scary! Man-eating trees mostly exist in some Western legends, but in many Western literature, man-eating trees have appeared many times. Legend has it that the man-eating tree is a giant carnivorous plant that is able to swallow and digest people. However, in nature, it is rare for plants to eat meat, let alone a plant large enough to eat people. So, are there really man-eating trees in the world? Let's briefly talk about this. The earliest story of plant-eating man-eating came from the early 20th century, and in 1920, a German explorer, Carl Liche, published an article in the American Weekly describing his own experience in 1878 in the forest of Madagascar witnessing a huge flowering plant swallowing and digesting a young woman from a local tribe.
Later, in 1925, W.C. Bryant claimed that he had also discovered a man-eating plant in the jungles of Mindanao in the southern Philippines that could freely stretch branches and leaves and hiss through the leaves. According to his description, he wanted to take a closer look, but was knocked unconscious by his fellow guide and dragged away from the dangerous area.
So many witnesses have so many witnesses that scientists are also very interested, so since the 1970s, many scientific expeditions have embarked on the road to find this "magical" plant, and have carried out carpet searches in the area described by witnesses. However, the results were disappointing, and no trace of the man-eating tree was found.
Therefore, for now, the man-eating tree still stays at the level of legend, and there is no evidence to prove their existence, and what people call "African snake tree", the legendary high "piranha flower", etc. are actually common names for man-eating trees, which do not exist. Are there any carnivorous plants in nature?
In general, we believe that the biggest difference between animals and plants is that one can move freely, and one cannot move autonomously, which limits the way plants obtain nutrients. But in nature, there are some plants that are carnivorous, and they actively hunt like animals.
There are more than 500 known carnivorous plants, of which the three families are mainly plants of the family " N. " N. and " N. algae " .
Of all the carnivorous plants, we are most familiar with the flycatcher. Flycatchers are members of the family Thatchedaceae, which can actively hunt and "eat" insects, and its weapon is a shell-like insect trap. Of course, the flytrap is not "Jiang Taigong fishing wisher hooked", but in the trap secretion honey juice to attract sweet-eating insects, wait until the insect flies into the trap, it will immediately close the trap, and then use the digestive glands under the inner wall of the trap to secrete digestive juice to digest the insect until there is no slag left. Of course, carnivorous plants are not only able to eat insects, some carnivorous plants can even "eat" a large mouse, which is " Nepenthes " nepenthes " in the family " Nepenthes " . Nepenthes Malay, the world's largest carnivorous plant, is a tropical plant found only in Malaysia. Although Nepenthes malay is a tropical plant, it is mostly found in high mountains above 1500 m above sea level and is therefore highly resistant to cold. Unlike flytraps, Nepenthes Malay is hunted with a large urn-shaped insect trap.
From the appearance, the whole plant is about 1.2 meters high, the leaves are mostly oblong, the trap is urn-shaped, the upper opening, the height is about 30-60 cm, the diameter is about 20 cm, and there is a cage-like leaf cover on it, which is to prevent rain from entering the trap. The pitchers of Nepenthes malayanum contain a large amount of digestive juice, which accounts for almost half of the entire pitcher volume. Like the flytraps, it is mainly insect-oriented, but the difference is that due to the large size of the pitchers of Nepenthes Malay, it is able to hunt larger prey, including birds, small mammals, etc., and scientists have found the remains of small mammals, such as rats, mountain tree shrews, etc. in the pitchers of Nepenthes Malay. In contrast, most of the plants under the Tanuki family are aquatic, and most of their stems and branches are relatively slender, and the reason why they can hunt insects is because most of them have traps, but because the traps are very small, they can only hunt some small insects.
In addition to the members of the above three families, the strongest "hunter" in the plant kingdom is also the Puya pineapple. It is a bromeliad family of plants that live in the Chilean Andes. From the appearance, its whole plant is about 2 meters high and about 1 meter in diameter, and the most important thing is that its entire plant is almost covered with spikes, and even their newly bloomed flowers have razor-like spines. When in bloom, these seemingly sweet flowers will attract herbivores to feed, but if the herbivores think it can eat and take a bite, then these thorns will firmly control the herbivores, and it is extremely difficult to break free. Finally, the puja pineapple uses these spines to directly absorb nutrients from the animal's body for its own use.
Therefore, if the locals find a puya pineapple while grazing, they will generally cut it off so that it does not endanger sheep and other domestic animals. All carnivorous plants cannot hunt by extending their bodies, but by attracting their prey closer, they can use their "weapons" or digestive juices to digest the prey. For people, people will actively avoid these plants, and even if their size binds people, people can break free, so there is no man-eating tree in nature.