Tightly shut

Another macro of the leaf tip of the carnivorous Venus Flytrap, with the trap closed. This tip was maybe half an inch long. I wonder what this plant has been eating, as there are no insects here in the winter. I also haven't watered it for months! Amazing that it's still alive.

"The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Flytrap

David Attenborough looks at how this well known carnivorous plant captures its prey. This short video is from the BBC.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIGVtKdgwo

The south west part of the city is experiencing thick smoke today, after a smouldering underground fire in a former gravel pit on Tsuu T’ina Nation land began last night. Kevin Littlelight, Tsuu T’ina administrator, said he expects the fire - that self-ignited Tuesday night in a Class 3 landfill being remediated - to burn for another 48 hours. I went to an excellent talk on the beautiful natural area of the David Thompson Corridor this evening and had to drive through thick smoke to get to the far western end of Fish Creek Park, which is next to the Tsuu T'ina Reserve. My whole place reeks of smoke.



Read more: www.calgaryherald.com/news/Underground+fire+former+gravel...