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lan60000 t1_j6gyagq wrote

Even flies get hugs.. where's my hug?

11

timoleo t1_j6h24qr wrote

This is why you should always pick a reputable hotel. At least a 3 star.

222

ggrindelwald t1_j6h5eac wrote

So can someone please ELI5 what happens next?

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littlecat-girlcat t1_j6h7s97 wrote

it looks like it closes pretty slow, how did the flies not escape?

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Nazamroth t1_j6h9z4i wrote

How the hell can flies evade a sonic slap, but a casually closing trap is deadly,,,,

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gardianlh t1_j6hepi5 wrote

Considering Venus Fly Traps only have an average lifespan of three feeding cycles, this one did well with a two for one special.

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bozog t1_j6hglyl wrote

He totally fucked it up for that other fly.

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culturedgoat t1_j6hhdz4 wrote

Silly flies. You have to wait until it disappears back into the pipe, and then hobble over…

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Omniouz t1_j6hhepa wrote

What a horrible way to go

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Shadowwynd t1_j6hk1ig wrote

Flies react to fast movement. The Venus Flytrap closes slowly enough (at first) that the fly does not have an “I’m in danger” thought until the fingers are interlaced. By the time it’s aware of danger it is far too late. The red part exudes a slightly sticky bait - it helps lure prey in but also hurts their fast takeoff ability.

If you are very patient and move very slowly, you can also sneak up on a fly.

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JonaJonaL t1_j6hno88 wrote

Isn't it more like trapping (like in the name) than hunting, since the thing is stationary and just waits for prey to come to it, rather than chasing/stalking prey?

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Vir1990 t1_j6iargy wrote

I was so happy when my venus fly trap grew some flowers. I've always sucked with plants and even though I'm sure it's not that hard to achieve, I was extremely proud of myself that I not only didn't kill it but also provided conditions good enough for it to bloom.

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yismin t1_j6idvrb wrote

Pretty sure there are a couple or a few 'hairs' which have to be tripped within a certain time of each other for the trap to close, so they may have helped each other get caught!

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Jackalodeath t1_j6ij3sg wrote

"Venus fly trap trapping" doesn't garner as much attention.

"Hunting" sounds cool, even if it's wrong. Best part is people will comment just to point out the distinction/"error," that comment is counted as engagement by the reddit Algo - just like up/downvoting - which increases the posts' chance of it showing up in people's feeds and/or on r/all.

Its the same reason titles are purposefully misspelled, use poor grammar, provide false/poorly structured info, or "asks what you think." People will always jump at the chance to correct someone/voice their opinion/tell the same joke 100+ times; basically its the easiest way to have low effort content reach as many users as possible.

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JonaJonaL t1_j6ijsy3 wrote

Which is, in a large part, the point I want to make.

People being deliberatebly dishonest (i.e clickbaiting) is in the best case scenario stretching the truth, but in most cases just straight up lying.

5

HarryHacker42 t1_j6il7y8 wrote

The weird thing is this plant can count. It closes on the third detection of something touching it. How does it know it is the third?

1

wojtekpolska t1_j6ip1xo wrote

gladly insects arent very inteligent, that'd be awful.

​

imagine if some enormous plants would eat deer, wolves, or sth else big like that, you could hear cries of the animal slowly dying all night long.

thankfully this isnt a thing in our reality lol

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Jackalodeath t1_j6ip6vw wrote

Unfortunately this being one of the heavier traffic/"more popular" subs, best you can do is report the post on grounds of "titles must be descriptive" or block the user that posted.

I suggest the latter given the mods track record with enforcing their own rules; but at least you won't see anything from this poster again.

2

mykreau t1_j6ir0u9 wrote

These flies are dumb. Why would they hang out on something called a fly trap? Pfft stupid bugs.

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SqueekyJuice t1_j6iyg7o wrote

"No no no...wait..."

"It's okay I got it just..."

"NO NO FUUUUUUCKK"

2

sgame23 t1_j6iywkz wrote

I have 2. Ones been alive for over 2 years now. The others about a year old. The "mouths" only survive for about 2-3 feeding cycles if that. But they just grow new ones

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skincone t1_j6izb33 wrote

My boy is eating GOOD tonight!!

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JonaJonaL t1_j6j1dsn wrote

Well, if we don't care about one small issue in language, that will lead to us not caring about one slightly larger issue in language, and so on and so forth, eventually leading to us reverting to to pre-caveman levels of communication (random yelling and throwing things at each other to make a point.)

0

Arrew t1_j6j39hi wrote

That’s a horrifying way to die.

3

LtJimmyRay t1_j6j7ieu wrote

And yet I move my hand slowly to ready myself to slap a fly, and they fly away instantly.

2

RevengencerAlf t1_j6jcj0q wrote

They probably drown before any meaningful dissolving/burning happens, and most animals drown quietly to my non-biologist understanding. There's not a lot of evolutionary benefit to alerting other mice since they can't/wouldn't help and it's not like an active predator that could chase them down. As far as I know it's mostly limited to humans and domesticated animals that are accustomed to someone coming to their aid and being able to physically pull them out of situations of distress. when an animal thinks it's drowning and it can't expect that help it's not energy efficient to tire itself out quicker by wasting extra breath screaming.

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RevengencerAlf t1_j6jcw93 wrote

All of their defense responses are geared towards something coming at them from above. The surface they're on moving doesn't tend to trigger their flight response because if it did any time there was the tinniest breeze or movement they'd get off whatever plant they just landed on.

It's also faster than you think it is. This might be slowed down a little bit

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Whako4 t1_j6jdk0l wrote

Did it look like it closed really slow?

1

Michel_is_Gros t1_j6jwb99 wrote

The interesting thing is that not even humans tend to be very loud if they're actually drowning, since all their energy and breath goes toward keeping themselves alive, like most animals. I think the loud splashing scene you'd probably expect (like movies like to portray) comes more from a panicking person than someone drowning, which could of course become a drowning hazard from tiring themselves out.

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RevengencerAlf t1_j6jxf52 wrote

Yep. It's also kind of a known thing that kids especially just kind of drown quietly and suddenly.

I think any noise making is not instinct and a purely learned behavior. Making noise when drowning only makes sense if there's someone like literally right there to help.

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silver2k5 t1_j6jyou2 wrote

That was the best... at a LAN party, I was the first guy who realized you can change to the female announcer and it threw all of the other teen boys for a loop earing the organic GODLIKE

5

GR3AC t1_j6kdq44 wrote

Plus the 2-3 little hairs that they have in the mouth (more towards the center) they act like a detectors, if they get touched about 0 to 3 times, the plant thinks its probably some leaf or dirt speck or something nothing alive/good to eat, but if it detects 3 or more touches it starts closing its "mouth", then again when it closes it waits a little bit for movement/resistance to confirm that it caught something alive so no jasmonic acid which it uses for braking down food is wasted

1

irohr t1_j6kfx92 wrote

This thing hunts like I look for a new job.

1

dgrant92 t1_j6khuw0 wrote

Next time a vegan is getting all pious remind them there are plants that eat meat! Let them choke on that a little....

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pees_on_dogs t1_j6kj9br wrote

Yes, it'll close, but this is bad for the plant. It takes a lot of energy for them to do this, so if they catch nothing its a problem. Don't try and make them close for no reason.

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SweetNeo85 t1_j6kkgie wrote

All I heard is Sid's voice from Toy Story.

Alright! Double prizes!

2

reddragon105 t1_j6kuzwx wrote

This is the thing that blew my mind about them when I first got mine - they actually have a built-in timer to make sure they caught something living, and thus worth digesting.

When something first lands in one of the traps and touches a trigger hair, the plant does nothing - it has to sense two trigger hairs being touched within 20 seconds for it to snap shut, and then it has to sense more hairs being triggered - five in total - in order for it to tighten even more and then start digestion.

The video above actually only shows the first stage of the trap closing - if it was 30-60 seconds longer you would have seen the trap shut tighter, so there were no gaps left, as the flies kept moving around inside.

If a trap was accidentally triggered without live prey inside (like by a rain drop), or a fly managed to get out in time, then the trap would shut but when the plant didn't detect anything still moving inside it would open again slowly - takes about a day or two.

But don't trigger them on purpose - it takes a lot of energy for the plant to close and reopen them, and if it's not getting any food from the effort it could kill the plant.

The traps themselves can last for a few months before dying off and being replaced. They can only be triggered so many times though, so once they've opened and closed a few times they become inactive and basically just serve as normal leaves for photosynthesis.

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reddragon105 t1_j6kvcgt wrote

They digest insects in about 10 days. The traps can last a few months, but they can only be triggered so many times - it takes a lot of energy, and if they keep catching bugs it just gets harder for the planet to digest them every time as it can't remove the old dead insects, so at a certain point they become inactive and just serve as regular leaves for photosynthesis until they die off. The plant itself is constantly growing new traps and they can live for 20+ years.

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reddragon105 t1_j6kvqxh wrote

The actual traps/leaves last for up to three months. They can only be triggered a few times, but once they can't digest insects anymore they still stick around for a while, acting as regular leaves for photosynthesis, before they die off - the plant is constantly growing new ones.

The plants as a whole are actually pretty long lived - they're slow to mature and can live for 20+ years.

2

lightscameraaction25 t1_j6kxkgt wrote

Yet I can swat my hand down fast as lightning and these little assholes would still get away.

1

RainboBro t1_j6kz1st wrote

>Gentle rain can close traps, but this is not a common event. The necessity of two or more stimuli to close a trap accounts for traps general lack of responsiveness to raindrops in light rainfall. Traps observed to be closed by raindrops began reopening in an average of 4.5 hours and full reopening averaged 15.8 hours.

>Only 6 to 12% of the traps in the field of view were closed by intense rain. Even rain so heavy that the traps were submerged in water left most of the traps open. Gentle rain can close traps, but this is not a common event.

  • Research Gate

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352295766_Can_Venus_flytraps_be_triggered_to_close_by_raindrops#:~:text=Only%206%20to%2012%25%20of,is%20not%20a%20common%20event.

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GaryNOVA t1_j6lb3xf wrote

So it’s not just a clever name?

1

Hive747 t1_j6m90de wrote

Ahh okay thank you for clarifying that! That makes a lot more sense. Though I never had good luck with them. They rarely lived for more than a year. Though I keep all my other plants mostly in a very good shape.

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reddragon105 t1_j6mqpbb wrote

Yeah, they're not the easiest plants to keep alive! My first one only lasted 9 months - it went dormant for the winter and then just didn't wake up.

My second one is going on for 2 years now - I bought it some higher quality soil and a bigger pot, one where you can water it from the bottom so the soil is always just damp, which is what they like.

3