MEAT-EATING PLANTS with Hali’a Eastburn
1/23/202626 min
Venus flytraps. Pitcher plants. Bladderworts. Sundews. Get ready to hear about physics, chemistry, biology and more, because we’re doing meat-eating plants with conservation ecologist and carnivorous phytobiologist, Hali’a Eastburn. Why do they love bogs? How do they lure their prey? How do bugs pollinate them without being eaten? Do they poop? And who calls pitcher plants “home?” Plus: The world’s fastest hunters and nature’s grossest vending machines.
Follow Hali’a Eastburn on Instagram
Donations were made to North American Sarracenia Conservancy and Kauluakalana
Full-length (*not* G-rated) Carnivorous Phytobiology episode + tons of scienc...
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First 90 secondsAlie Ward· Host0:00
Oh, hey, it's that omelet that set off your smoke alarm alley way. Oh, hi. I hope you're hungry for flies. I know carnivorous plants are. This is a Smologies episode. These are shorter, kid-safe, classroom-friendly, G-rated episodes of our classics we've cut down to make them smaller, easier to listen to. I think you will enjoy them. Okay, carnivorous phytobiology, flesh-eating plants. They exist. They're all over the place. What? What makes a carnivorous plant, you ask? That's a good question. So they have to capture, kill, and digest their prey, and use the absorbed nutrients to grow. I know you're thinking carnivorous plant, got it, Venus fly traps, and what else? So much. There are pitfall traps, like pitcher plants. There are sticky flypaper traps. There's bladder traps, which sound painful. They're like insect vacuums. There's lobster pot traps that have spikes you can't pass back through if you're a bug. Oh, this is a good one. So this ologist has been doing really great outreach out of her soggy field, and this ology, this episode, it covers so many ologies in one: phytology, conservation ecology, bogology, plus the chemistry of digestion, the physics of trap mechanisms. There's symbiosis. There's tricky things, and snacks, and survival, and flowers. So tuck in your bibs. Get ready for carnivorous phytobiologist, Helia Eastburn. Smologies.