Do some Plants Eat Insects?

            Insect eating plants have always fascinated botanists. These plants cannot prepare their own protein; therefore they obtain it by eating insects and worms. These plants are called insectivorous plants. Every plant of this kind has its own unique technique of capturing insects. The leaves of these specialized plants are adapted to trap and digest insects- which supplement their food supply.

Pitcher Plant 

            One of the most well-known insectivorous plants is the pitcher plant. The upper part of its leaf resembles a small pitcher. The color of this plant is very attractive and it contains a sticky liquid. The opening of the pitcher has small fibers, which allow the insect to go inside but obstruct its coming out. On being attracted by the beautiful color, when some insect enters this pitcher, it is unable to come out. It gets entangled produces certain enzymes and digests it. The cobra plant of America, which appears like a snake, also eats insects. It also has a pitcher shaped mouth.

            Another part, which feeds on insects, is the sundew plant. The sundew plants have hair on their leaves. The tips of these hairs have droplets of a liquid, which appear very attractive. As soon as some insect is attracted towards the leaf, the hair bends with the help of their own juice. The digested flesh is absorbed through their leaves. After that, the hair returns to normal.

            There is a plant called Venus fly trap which is found in America. Its leaves have beautiful red colored elevations o both sides. Whenever an insect sits on a leaf, it closes like a fork and the plat digests the trapped insect by digestive juices. The uticularia is a water plant. It is found all over the world. The roots of this plant that are submerged in water have bulbous bladders. When some aquatic insect enters the bladder, the hair on its opening does not allow it to come out. The walls of these bladders give out a digestive juice, which suck the proteins out of the bodies of the insect.

            Similarly, a plant called Indian pipe is found in the hills of shimla. It also eats insects. In addition to these, there are many other insectivorous plants all over the world.

What are the Bites of Some Insects Dangerous?

            There are many kinds of insects that inhabit the earth. Some of these are capable of spreading dangerous diseases through their bites.

            Mosquitoes, tse tse flies, rat fleas, bed bugs, etc. are insects that can spread various diseases through their bites. When these insects bite any sick person and suck the blood, the germs of the disease pass into the bodies of the insects. When these insects bite a healthy person, they pass on to him the germs of that disease along with the saliva through a needle-shaped hollow organ. Before sucking the blood, they inject a small amount of saliva into our body to prevent the blood form clotting. By doing so the germs of the disease enter our body along with the saliva. These germs infect the healthy person and make him sick.

Female Anopheles is the carrier of the malaria parasite

            Malaria is caused by the bite of female anopheles mosquitoes, which, if we exclude wars and accidents, have mainly been responsible, directly or indirectly, for 50% of human deaths since the ancient times. Even today, despite major campaigns to eradicate malaria, the disease afflicts at least 200 million people every year in the world. Disease like the dangerous sleeping sickness is caused due to the bite of tse tse flies. Lice transmit typhoid. The rat fleas carry the germs of plague. Bed bugs cause skin diseases.

            However, there are some other insects that sting but do not spread any disease. Among them are honeybees and wasps. Their sting causes intense pain. The stings of these insects are located pain. The stings of these insects are located at the tail end and are connected to the poison glands. These insects use them as weapons for their self defense. When they bit us, they inject some poisonous substance into our body which causes swelling on the skin, itching and severe pain.