Deep in the jungle primeval, Nepenthes attenboroughii awaits its furry prey. But this isn’t a stealthy cat or poisonous lizard. It’s a plant, and it eats rats.
Officially labeled the Attenborough’s pitcher plant, after the world-renowned British TV naturalist sir David Attenborough, this rat-eating planet is the largest of all carnivorous plants in the world. The leaves are up to 30 cm long and 10 cm wide and the plant can reach a height of up to 1.5 m. It’s huge! The specimen which was used to define the species was collected at the top of Mount Victoria in central Palawan in the Philippines.
The plant lures in the rats with the promise of sweet nectar. When the rat leans into the plant to drink the saccharine liquid, it slips on the pitcher’s waxy interior, and gets stuck in the gooey sap. Once it is trapped, acid-like digestive enzymes break down the still-living rodent.
