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By this definition (nutrient uptake from an animal the plant has killed), brambles should be counted as carnivorous. Their spines all point towards the base of
by madaxe_again 5y ago
By this definition (nutrient uptake from an animal the plant has killed), brambles should be counted as carnivorous.
Their spines all point towards the base of the plant, where, in a mature specimen, there’s usually a hollow without thorns.
Thing is, if you’re a furry or woolly animal, like a sheep, and you get caught in the thorns, your struggles bring you into the centre of the plant, where you’re thoroughly trapped, and you die of exhaustion.
Then you decompose, and the bramble gets fed.
I’ve seen this happen to sheep, and here, while clearing huge swathes of giant brambles, it’s not uncommon to find a skull or a few bits of bone around the bottom of a plant.
- mandmandam 5y agoWhoa. That's a really cool thought; I had never considered that.
- samatman 5y agoThere is a case to be made that this should count as predation. The plant in the article is less ambiguous: they detected a digestive enzyme in the sticky stalks which is common to other carnivorous plants, and means the plant digests the insects directly. A bramble consumes unlucky mammals with the help of mycorrhisae in the soil, rather doing so directly. Is this more like the bacteria which help ruminants digest cellulose (no one would say that cows don't eat grass!) or is it more like saying that vegans are carnivores because organic fertilizers have blood and fish meal in them?