Meat-eating plant discovered in Canada加拿大发现食肉植物

周书玲

海詞积累

1. bug n. 小昆虫;虫子

2. salamander n. 蝾螈

3. decompose v. 分解

4. bog n. 沼泽

5. predator n. 食肉动物;掠夺者

6. carnivorous adj. 食肉的

Biologists from the University of Guelph have discovered a meat-eating plant in Ontario's Algonquin Park wetlands. Apart from eating bugs， this plant feasts on young salamanders. While pitcher plants are commonly found in the Canadian wetlands， they feed mostly on spiders and insects that fall into the bell-shaped leaves and end up decomposing in the rainwater.

In fact， it was in the summer of 2017 when an undergraduate student discovered a sala-mander trapped inside of a pitcher plant. In the fall of 2018， a team of researchers studied pitcher plants that were located around a single pond and they noticed that about one in five of them contained tiny salamanders that were around the same size as a human finger. Even more surprising is that numerous plants held more than one salamander.

Since there are a limited number of fish in the bog ponds， it is believed that the young salamanders could have fallen into the plants because they were looking for insects. Another possibility is that they crawled（爬） into the plants in order to escape from predators. While some of the salamanders that were trapped inside of the plants died within just three days， others lived up to 19 days.

Biologist Alex Smith stated that the pitcher plants could have turned carnivorous in order to get nutrients， such as nitrogen（氮） which is lacking in the soil of the bogs. In other parts of the world， flesh-eating plants-such as the sundews and the Venus flytrap-have also been found in environments that lack important nu-trients.

Other meat-eating pitcher plants have been discovered in other parts of the world since the eighteenth century， but it is believed that this is the first time such a plant has been found in North America. One example was a pitcher plant that was found in Asia a decade ago and it ate not only spiders and insects， but also mice and small birds.

Let's hope that the pitcher plants stick with small vertebrates（脊椎动物）， as it would be quite concerning to see a large sign near the bog that reads， “Stay on the boardwalk and watch your children. Here are plants that eat vertebrates，” as Smith said.

Reading Check

Decide if the following statements are true（T） or false（F）.

（ ）1. The newly found pitcher plant mainly feasts on bugs.

（ ）2. Spiders that fall into the leaves of the plant will die finally.

（ ）3. The salamanders could have fallen into the plants for insects.

（ ）4. The salamanders trapped inside the plant lived up to 19 days.

Language Study

Complete the following sentences according to the text.

1. It is believed  ____________  this is the first time such a plant has been found in North America.

2. In the fall of 2018， a team of researchers     ____________     （study） pitcher plants that were located around a single pond.

3. While pitcher plants are   ____________   （common） found in the Canadian wetlands， they feed mostly on spiders and insects.

4. Biologist Alex Smith stated that the pitcher plants could have turned carnivorous in order to   ____________ （get） nutrients.