Bob wrote in
:

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:18:37 -0500, Archimedes Plutonium
wrote:


But if Darwin Evolution theory was correct then the plant kingdom
would have created a highly toxic poison to alot of animals and
the animals would have created highly toxic poisons to alot of
plants.

That is silly. Plants do not eat animals, and so animals do not
need poisons to defend themselves against plants.

(There are a few exceptions to plants not eating animals. Are
there any poisons involved here? I don't know. Given the way these
plants work, I doubt it. But this would be the place to look. Can
any animal that is trapped by a carnivorous plant kill/inhibit it
and escape?)


There are 3 trap systems that carnivorous plants use. Bottles,
Sticky Snares, and Closing Boxes. (I made all those terms up for
this post)

Bottles are passive traps that contain digestive fluids, and
generally downward pointing hairs to prevent escape. To escape, an
animal must either not sink in the fluid, or be able to chew their
way out, Another option would be to be immune to the digestive
action of the fluids, which I believe that there are a few mosquitos
or other flies that can do that, their larvae eat the plants
victims, the adults escape because they float. There is no toxicity
toward the plant though, only defense against the digestive action.
Pitcher plants such as Sarracenia and Darlingtonia are Bottle traps

Sticky Snares are usually hairs that have glands that produce a
sticky, digestive substance. The hairs are often, but not always
capable of moving to improve the success of the catch. To escape,
your victim must be strong enough to pull out of the glue. Using
some sort of chemical would be useless, unless it is capable of
breaking down the glue. Sundews (Drosera) are common users of Sticky
Snares, along with Butterworts (Pinguicula).


Closing Boxes are traps that move quickly when they are stimulated
by the presence of an animal. They generally have some trigger that
sets them off, they trap the unfortunate, and then close more slowly
to seal their fate. Venus Fly-trap has long trichomes that prevent
escape after the first motion. To escape, you must either be strong
enough to open the trap, or be able to chew your way out. To use
chemistry, the trapped animal would have to produce some compound
that reverses the action of the trap, or fools the trap into
thinking that there is nothing there. Bladderworts (Utricularia) and
Venus Fly-trap (Dionaea) use a Closing Box type of trap.

Sean