A team of botantists has discovered a species of carnivorous plant that is capable of catching small rodents and dissolving them for nutrients. This discovery was made on Mount Victoria, which is on Palawan in Philippines.
These carnivorous plants are called “pitcher plants,” and a close relative of this species has been well-documented for a very long time. The Philippine pitcher plant was known to grow in the area, but in 2000, some Christian missionaries reported seeing elaborate pitcher plants on a climbing expedition on Mount Victoria.
These reports reached the people of Red Fern Natural History Productions, who sent an expedition to Mount Victoria in 2007. This expedition was led by Stewart McPherson, and it included the British botantist Alistair Robinson and locally-based botantist Volker Heinrich.
What they discovered was truly shocking.
These plants have elaborate traps that trick large insects and even rodents into their pitchers.
Now, the proposed Linnean name for this species is Nepenthes attenboroughii.
It is, of course, named for Sir David Attenborough, who currently has a species of echidna named after him, as well as an extinct marine reptile called Attenborosaurus conybeari.
The fact that these organisms are named after Sir David Attenborough is testimony to his life’s work of explaining the natural word to mass audiences, using the broadcast technology. It is very likely that many of the scientists working on these species were first inspired to get interesting in nature and science when they watched David Attenborough’s wonderful nature documentaries as children.
Now, that’s quite a legacy to have.