Fortunately for people, Venus flytrap plants can't eat anything much bigger than a housefly and mostly they eat mosquitoes and gnats. If you put the tip of your finger in the flytrap's bug eating mouth, it will quickly snap shut, but it won't hurt at all.
Most carnivorous plants selectively feed on specific prey. This selection is due to the available prey and the type of trap used by the organism. With the Venus flytrap, prey is limited to beetles, spiders and other crawling arthropods. ... Dionaea are able to extract more nutrients from these larger bugs.
The leaves of Venus' Flytrap open wide and on them are short, stiff hairs called trigger or sensitive hairs. When anything touches these hairs enough to bend them, the two lobes of the leaves snap shut trapping whatever is inside. ... The trap doesn't close all of the way at first.
How the Venus Flytrap Kills and Digests Its Prey. ... Venus flytraps are the speed demons of the plant world. In spite of belonging to a particularly sedate kingdom of organisms, these carnivorous plants snap shut their two-lobed traps in a tenth of a second to capture an insect meal, which they then digest.Sep 5, 2011
But still — they're plants, but they eat flesh. ... The plant lived, although it was from then on given a diet of wholesome insects. So it seems — under very specialized circumstances — a venus flytrap might eat a person, if they were cut up and fed to it a gram or two of skin at a time.Oct 12, 2011
They are called carnivorous plants because they catch small prey and digest them with special juices. Venus flytraps are not poisonous, so anything could prey upon the plants. ... In nature, small mammals such as rodents and larger insects eat the plant.Mar 6, 2011