Our first mammal

[unclemasa]

Today, much to my wife's horror, we discovered that our N. maxima x truncata had caught a mouse. It had decomposed a great deal but it's ID was clear.

This is the first mammal that any of our plants have captured.

The score as of 4/08/09 ...

mouse =2 (11/11/09)
bird = 3
lizard = a bunch [anoles, geckos and skinks]
frog = a few
large insect = a lot
small insect = tons

[victoria]

Sounds like your N. maxima x truncata ate like a king! So far all I have found other than bugs in my pitchers are some small toads but I was the one that put them in the pitchers, lol!

[sdcarnivores]

Nice! Aside from size, I seriously wonder how the digestive capabilities (a product of the type of enzymes produced and environmental factors such as bacteria populations) of species differ. Truncata and its equally huge relatives may very well have digestive adaptations that favor its ability to catch larger vertebrae. Finding that it does produce unique enzymes that aid its ability to digest larger prey such as mice would be a very significant discovery in the world of carnivorous plants. To think that a plant would have adaptations that are possibly geared toward catching and digesting larger animals would just be astounding!

I forgot this section existed. I shall be giving it a thorough read .