This week, one thing that I researched was the Venus flytrap, one of the more popular types of carnivorous plants. What is so fascinating about them? Well, for me, it’s how unique they are. The idea of a plant that reverses the typical food chain and eats animals is so cool. It really showcases the diversity of life: species will always find a way to survive, no matter how difficult the niche, and no matter how unexpected the adaptation that is necessary. Life literally gets creative to come up with these things.

A member of my family once tried to raise one of these, but they are notoriously difficult to care for, and well, we don’t have a good track record with plants in general. The poor thing did not live for long. However, I do like to admire them from afar.

They also remind me of “Audrey 2” from Little Shop of Horrors, a musical very close to my heart.

There wasn’t much new that I learned about them this week that I didn’t already know. Mostly I used the pictures for reference material. But one article did have a nice illustration by Charles Darwin.