Venus Flytrap: Terrestrial or Extraterrestrial?
Even though we have yet to see the gigantic, man-eating creature from The Little Shop Of Horrors, the most dramatic case for possible alien life landing on Earth is not aliens landing in flying saucers, but the Venus Flytrap. Also known to botanists as Dionaea Muscipula, the Venus Flytrap is one of only a few plants capable of rapid plant movement, one of only a few carnivorous plants, and the only carnivorous plant capable of rapid plant movement.
The Venus Flytrap is the third fastest plant in the world, capable of closing its trap within 100 milliseconds-less than a second. The two fastest plants are the Dogwood bunchberry (the flowers open and shoot pollen in 0.5 milliseconds), and the White Mulberry tree (the flowers can shoot pollen at half the speed of sound).
Even though the Venus Flytrap has been successfully transplanted to other regions all over the globe, it is only found naturally in a 100 mile radius around Wilmington, North Carolina. Enveloping only a couple of counties in North and South Carolina. It thrives best in heat, and in swamps. The strange thing is that in the middle of the Flytrap’s natural territory, there appears to be several small impact craters from a meteor shower. These craters-and the fact that the Flytrap’s native territory is so small and surrounds these craters-is only part of the evidence of the Venus Flytrap’s extraterrestrial origin.
There are no other species of the plant and it is the only one with an active trap for catching small bugs. The “organs” and movement of the plant are highly specialized, but scientists can find no evidence of evolution of the plant. We also still have no idea how the trap actually works. There are two main theories, one involving a swelling of cells, the other involving a tightening of “tendons”. Right now, we have no idea, but with a careful study, we may soon know.
Another anomaly is that when the trap closes, it does not close all of the way at first. It closes most of the way within a second, then takes a few minutes to close the rest of the way and seal itself. It is believed that the Flytrap does this to let out very small bugs that will not be enough food energy to justify the energy used in digesting it. Also, the flytrap will “spit out” anything that does not wiggle in it’s trap, to keep from trying to digest dead leaves.
There have been debates over a sample-return mission from Mars and other planets. The debate centers around the fact that we may bring back life forms from the planets. It has already been proven that rocks from Mars are already here on Earth. And most scientists are sure that rocks from Earth are already elsewhere. If the Venus Flytrap is really of extraterrestrial origin, we shouldn’t worry too much about cross-contamination, because it has already happened.
