ForumIAS LATEST
- FRC 2027: SFG Residential program | accepting application for Tranche-2 Click Here to know more →
- CSAT Classes for Prelims 2027 by Rishi Bhargav sir starts 16 Nov. at 5 PM Click Here to know more →
- Prelims Sprint classes 2027: Starts 2nd Nov. at 4:30 PM | First class open to all. Click Here to know more →
News: Scientists have now found the physical mechanism behind the snapping action of the Venus flytrap.
About Venus flytrap
- The Venus flytrap is a small carnivorous plant of the sundew family (Droseraceae).
- Scientific name: Its scientific name is Dionaea muscipula.
- Native to: It is native to a limited region of North Carolina and South Carolina in U.S.A.
- It grows in nutrient-poor environments and supplements its nutrition by capturing and digesting insects using snap trap mechanism.
- How the snapping mechanism works:
- The plant uses specialised trigger hairs located on the inner surface of the trap.
- When an insect touches these hairs twice within a short period of time, the trap closes.
- Closure can occur in as little as one-tenth of a second.
- When the trap snaps shut, the insect is sealed inside for digestion.
- After the plant absorbs the nutrient-rich liquid produced by the digestive processes, the trap reopens, with the insect’s empty exoskeleton left behind.
- Findings of the new study
- The researchers found that the trap closes because the cell walls on the outer surface of the trap suddenly become softer and more flexible (about 30–40% softer).
- The trap is already under tension, like a compressed spring.
- When an insect touches the trigger hairs twice, the cell walls soften, releasing the stored tension and causing the trap to snap shut in as little as 0.1 seconds.
