Read the excerpt from the article Amazing Plants:
There are a surprising number of plants that are carnivorous, or feed on meat. One of the most well-known carnivorous plants is the Venus flytrap. This carnivore lives in warm, swampy areas where it feeds on flies and any other insect unfortunate enough to land on one of its round, spiky leaves. The leaves are motion-sensitive, and the slightest touch causes a leaf to snap shut, trapping the prey behind a prison of spikes.
Pitcher plants are another quiet carnivore. The plants are long, pitcher-like tube shapes, with wide bottoms full of water to catch and digest their prey. Pitcher plants use different strategies to attract prey. Some give off sweet smells, while others produce nectar. Pitchers have been known to consume anything from insects to small lizards and rodents.
Read the article Trapped by a Predator:
When I was 12, I went on vacation to the Wilmington, North Carolina area. While there, my family and I went on a hike in the Croatan National Forest, a true coastal forest that is bordered on three sides by water. As I traversed the boardwalk, I caught a glimpse of something pink in my peripheral vision. I stopped and bent down to inspect the mysterious looking specimen. It had long, sharp-looking white teeth and a large, pink mouth. Upon closer inspection, I noticed little droplets of liquid around the rim. Inside its mouth, there were six tiny hairs, three on the top and three on the bottom. While I was examining the unknown object, I saw a fly zoom in and land inside the mouth. I observed as it wandered around the reddish-pink, fleshy surface and brushed against one of the hairs. What happened next seemed like something out of a horror story. All of a sudden, the mouth snapped shut, and the teeth made a prison, trapping the poor fly inside. I witnessed the fly fighting against the spiky teeth, trying to escape, but it was an unsuccessful struggle. When my mother caught up to me on the path, I showed her the slayer, and she explained that the fly eater was the plant called a Venus flytrap. In that moment, I wanted to learn more about this carnivorous flora.
I became a botanist because of that first encounter with the predatory plant. Over the years, I learned so much more about the Dionaea muscipula, better known as the Venus flytrap. For example, the liquid around the rim of its "mouth" is actually a sweet nectar that lures prey. In addition, the six tiny hairs, called trichomes, are like little sensory time bombs. This means when an insect touches a trichome, a timer is set for 20 seconds. If there is a second touch within the 20-second period, the mouth clamps down and traps the prey. The third movement signals the plant's digestive juices to start breaking down the insect. In about ten days, the Venus flytrap reopens and any part of the insect that didn't get digested falls out. It is an amazing process!
Because of my experience in North Carolina all those years ago, I decided to become a botanist and specialize in carnivorous plants. I have studied pitcher plants, sundews, water wheels, cobra lilies, and more. I never bore learning about the different traps, like suction traps and sticky traps, that carnivorous plants use to snare their prey. In fact, you could say I was trapped by the Venus flytrap, that meat-eating predator, when I first laid eyes on it.
What information does the reader learn from Amazing Plants that is missing in Trapped by a Predator?
A description of the pitcher plant
An account of a fly being eaten
An explanation of the Venus flytrap
A report of the author's career
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