Alternative Post #4

At the beginning of the semester, my very first blog post was about a pitcher plant.  I want to return to this again.  This video shows a pitcher plant devouring a mouse.  Interestingly, some pitcher plants can become huge plants that are big enough to ingest rodents, which I talked about in my earlier post.  I think it's fascinating that plants have developed these adaptations.  People always take plants for granted, and they never seem to imagine the harm some plants can do.  Of course you have the typical, Toxicodendron radicans, that many people are allergic to, but even the venus fly trap doesn't get as much attention as it should.  The video linked above shows the importance of plants.  Not only can plants defend themselves, but they don't have to "move" anywhere to do it.  What I mean by this is that they are anchored to the ground, but they are still able to defend themselves.  In some cases this might mean ingesting an entire mouse or frog.  Over time, plants have developed interesting adaptations that are helpful for them to defned themselves.