Venus flytraps catch insects and spiders with their jaw-like leaves. But scientists recently found that some species don’t get eaten: those that pollinate the plants, or help them reproduce.
To study the plant’s pollinators, researchers from North Carolina State University pried open wild plant traps and collected the prey inside. They also used nets to catch insects that had visited the flytraps’ flowers and carried pollen between plants.
It turned out that pollinators—like bees—almost never got trapped. It’s not clear how Venus flytraps keep those critters off the menu. But by doing so, they help more flytraps take root nearby.