You can count on Venus flytraps knowingwhen to chomp

Carnivorous plants are inherently kind of creepy.

But a new study published this week in Cell Biology really cranks that creepiness up to 11. According to this new research, the Venus flytrap can ... count?

“The carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula, also known as Venus flytrap, can count how often it has been touched by an insect visiting its capture organ in order to trap and consume the animal prey,” study author Rainer Hedrich of the University of Wurzburg said in a statement.

Plants don’t have brains, so the Venus flytrap doesn’t do anything that we’d recognize as “counting” in a cognitive sense. But according to the study, the plant somehow keeps track of the number of times it’s touched, which allows it to react appropriately to its prey.

When the scientists probed at their plants with mechano- electric pulses, they found that one touch set the flytraps into highalert mode— but didn’t actually result in any action on the plant’s part. If a second touch happened within a few seconds, the trap snaps partially shut.

It only shuts all theway after more touches, and the fifth touch triggered the release of digestive enzymes. After that, more touches mean more digestive enzymes. This allows the plant to expend just enough energy to successfully subdue and consume its prey: A bigger, livelier insect will get more attention than aweak bug.

“The number of action potentials informs ( the plant) about the size and nutrient content of the struggling prey,” Hedrich said. “This allows the Venus flytrap to balance the cost and benefit of hunting.”

Or, in the words of The Atlantic’s Ed Yong: “The plant apportions its digestive efforts according to the struggles of its prey. And the fly, by fighting for its life, tells the plant to start killing it, and how vigorously to do so.”

So if you ever find yourself in a nightmarishly huge Venus flytrap, try not to struggle. Or, alternatively, if the trap has already shut fully on you, fight valiantly to ensure that your death is as swift as possible.

The researchers hope to learn more about the mechanism behind this counting by sequencing the plant’s genome.

Venus flytraps keep track of how often they have been touched by an insect; the studied plants did nothing at a single touch, but the fifth touch triggered the release of digestive enzymes. Getty Images