Comments on: India’s Cow-Eating Trees

By: Alligator

Alligator — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:07:38 +0000

Konga - the 1961 British contribution to the giant gorilla movies, also had a lot to do with man-eating plants. Dr. Charles Decker (MIchael Gough aka Alfred the Butler in the Batman movies) goes missing in Afirca for a year and is presumed dead. He returns and cultivates the man-eating plants he found in remotest jungle and synthesizes serum from them to turn a chimp into a 100 ffot tall gorilla. His love interest (one of his female students) gets chomped on by a plant as Konga rampages through London and knocks Big Ben down.

If you loved Mystery Science Theater 3000, get this movie. You will enjoy it and its rubber plants.

By: DavidFullam

DavidFullam — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 01:07:22 +0000

The awesome BBC version of Triffids hits DVD in November.

By: Pygar

Pygar — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 00:21:05 +0000

Although I presume that it is because it isn’t as well known in US as in British culture, I’m nevertheless surprised that John Wyndham’s classic 1951 sci-fi novel The Day of the Triffids hasn’t been mentioned yet. The Triffids were man eating plants par excellence, because they could actually walk, which extraordinary ability helped them eventually to take over the planet. Although an apparent meteor shower (the novel’s hero speculates that it may actually have been a space-based laser attack) plays a part in the novel by blinding the majority of the earth’s population so that they are more vulnerable to Triffid attacks, the speculated origin of the Triffids is not outer-space but rather bioengineering by the (now former) Soviet Union.

The best science fiction has often been predictive, so just perhaps, given the advancements that have since been made in manipulating plant and animal forms and functions through genetic engineering, we should consider crossing our fingers before scoffing too heartily at such reports of man-eating trees.

By: jules

jules — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:18:16 +0000

Well, those trees in The Wizard of OZ were pretty mean!

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:15:38 +0000

A larger specimen of carnivorous plant I can grant possibility on…but it would have to be truly enormous to grab a cow, lift it off the ground and pull it in…think that is where the legend starts leaking in:)

But there is always a possibility that a tree could emulate a fly trap…I would think it would need to either be near a ready food source or not have to eat very often.

interesting topic though…food for thought…

By: CryptoGoji

CryptoGoji — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:51:45 +0000

Do any of you get the feeling that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson had it right when the published the first “Monster Manual” for Dungeons and Dragons?

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:25:58 +0000

Ceroill- Yes, indeed we can speculate about how such things would work, i was just wondering if there were any actual botanist opinions floating around out there. This stuff is fascinating for me to speculate about, and I like the ideas you put forth. I am more a zoologist than a botanist, but I agree that such a large carnivorous plant would likely not have fast moving tentacles, etc, as plants just don’t have musculature as we know it. Any thing of that sort would be a dramatic departure from the norm and would be a huge discovery in its own right. I also think that these sorts of “cow eating” plants would probably rely on entrapping their prey with some sort of adhesive substance or immobilize them with poison rather than lashing out at them with some appendage like a sci-fi movie. I think the plants would likely be immobile, but that leads me to speculate about what the plant would utilize to bring its prey in close enough to trap. It seems to me any sort of “spring loaded” mechanism would also be inefficient and unwieldy at the size required to eat, say, an ever lovin’ COW! Great topic!

By: jedimaster5000

jedimaster5000 — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:19:25 +0000

Now this this is something I was waiting for a long time (not only I’m going to save it on this computer, but I’ll also put it in my 360 site).

Now to wait until the day I go there to see it my self (unless of course humans made them extinct, just like they made exist the moa, dodo, pessenger pigeon, and the great auk, who can all talk more intelligently then humans can).

By: sschaper

sschaper — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:52:44 +0000

Huorns!

Carnivorous plants exist in the upper midwest and further north, particularly pitcher plants and sundew.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:06:11 +0000

Where the Hell is Treebeard when you need him???