One of the worlds most recognized plants, the Venus flytrap still amazes. It's carnivorous appetite, an adaptation to nutrient poor bog soil, is well known, but recently discovered was the plants ability to "count". To reduce false alarms, the flytraps sensory trigger hairs do not immediately fire when disturbed, but like any good predator, will wait until the hair is jiggled more than once, ensuring that a meal, and not a stray breeze, snaps the jaws closed. Considering the plant has been studies for centuries, its surprising that its common sense approach to minimizing false alarms hadn't been previously discovered.

Watch a video here

Wetlands in the News

04 April 2025