Carnivorous plants

Some plants in the Amazon are carnivorous, or meat-eating. They attract insects, such as ants and flies, with sweet or foul smelling nectar contained in a chamber or pitcher that has steep sides and is covered with downward pointing hairs.  Examples of these are pitcher plants, which hold small amounts of water in their slippery leaf structures to catch prey, and small, strong hairs that stop small insects from easily climbing out. When an insect enters the pitcher plant to drink, it slips down underneath the water and is absorbed by the pitcher plant. Another carnivorous plant is the bladderwort, which is found in areas of the Amazon basin.  Bladderwort plants feed on small crustaceans and other smaller animals that trigger a trap door in the flat part of one of the plant’s hundreds of small sacs located in their underwater branches. The prey is taken into the plant and ingested.