The unique hunting strategies of carnivorous plants and their animal-like traits

Venus flytraps use jasmonate signaling, co-opted from plant defense, to control digestive enzyme secretion, similar to animal hormonal regulation.

Nepenthes rajah attracts tree shrews with nectar, gaining nutrients from their feces, resembling animal mutualistic relationships.

Sarracenia (pitcher plants) hosts bacteria in its pitchers to break down prey, similar to how animal digestive systems rely on gut microbes.

Sarracenia grows flowers on long stalks far from traps, separating pollinators from prey, a strategy akin to animals distinguishing food from allies.

Skunk cabbage generates heat through cellular respiration, similar to warm-blooded animals, melting snow to expose flowers to pollinators.

Genlisea uses lobster pot traps with spiral tubes and inward bristles to capture tiny prey like protozoa, mimicking animal trapping mechanisms.

Pitcher plants use sweet nectar and vibrant colors to lure prey into their pitfall traps, similar to how animals use lures to attract mates or prey.

Bladderworts (Utricularia) use bladder-like suction traps that open a valve to suck in prey in milliseconds, resembling animal predatory speed.

Sundews use flypaper traps with sticky mucilage on tentacles that curl around prey, forming a 'stomach' to digest nutrients, similar to animal digestion.

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) uses snap traps with trigger hairs that close in under 100 milliseconds when touched, mimicking animal-like speed.