Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Rat-Eating Plant?

A rare new species of plant that eats small rats has been discovered at the tip of Cape York.

Pitcher plants, otherwise known as flesh-eating plants, grow throughout Cape York but now a new, larger species that grows like a vine has been discovered.

The new species has been called "Tenax".



James Cook University ecologist Charles Clarke and a colleague found the new species at a swamp near the Jardine River, but exactly where is a secret.

"They are quite vulnerable," he said. "They are only found in a few small areas and if we broadcast the location then there are people out there who would take advantage of that. There's a lot of interest in pitcher plants from Australia, even from people outside of Australia.

"And while people often associate these things with New Guinea or Borneo or Sumatra, the fact that there's more species here is actually very exciting."
(Source)
Peas be with ewe

Sorry... I just turned by 'anon. comments' option off, because I just got my first random comment posted! Sorry for you non-Blogger commenters! I love to hear legitimate comments :)

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6 comments:

  1. Geeze that's a scary country. If crocodiles, snakes and poisonous spiders weren't enough, now you have mammal eating plants.

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  2. Only in Australia, TM! Now i bet you're looking forward to visiting us all over here next month, huh? muwahahahaa :D
    Cyalayta
    Mal :)

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  3. Scary - it sure is! Thankfully it's to be found about 4,000 kms away from here! Whew.
    Cyalayta
    Mal :)

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  4. Wow, now we need a plant that eats politicians.

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