Rats, bats and pitcher plants | The Institute for Creation Research

 
Rats, bats and pitcher plants

In Creation 38 (1): 18-19, January 2016

Although the pitchers on tropical pitcher plants mostly attract and digest insects, some pitcher plants actually use nectar to attract—but not digest—rats and treeshrews. These small mammals fit just right atop the pitcher’s openings, and they use the pitcher as a toilet. The plant collects nutritious nitrogen at the bottom of its pitcher from the animal waste. Some pitcher plants actually provide a home for bats in trade for fertilizer. Pretty clever setups. New results clarify just how this setup works, and how it is unexplainable by evolution.

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