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Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man
We know that they had mouths. Assuming that they had leaves also, they would gain energy from both ingestion and photosynthesis. Thus they would be very interesting to a modern biologist.  |
I'm assuming just as interesting as the well-known Venus Fly Trap.
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The VFT produces a short fleshy leaf that carries a modified tip that forms two sides of the trap, each side contains three hairs which when touched two to three times causes the two sides to spring shut in a very rapid motion fast enough to catch flies and other insects. The leaf once closed then exudes a series of enzymes that slowly dissolve the internal juices of the insect and hence supply the plant with food. After a few days the trap re-opens leaving the skeleton of the insect to be washed out by the rain. If no insect is caught by the trap the leaves re-open within a few hours to prepare for the next insect to arrive. The VFT comes from soils that are very poor in nutrients so the plant has adapted itself to finding nutrients from other means rather than starve. VFT's can easily grow without ever eating insects.
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Maybe the Ents don't really
need the draughts... they just use them to augment their diets. After all, it
is biologically precidented.
Fea