WILMINGTON - Deep in the hot, humid swamps of North and South Carolina exists a unique, alien-like creature that could easily be cast as the lead monster in Hollywood’s next blockbuster horror film (right, Seymour?).
A vibrant shade of green, it effortlessly blends in with the surrounding vegetation of the swamps and bogs that it inhabits - except at night, when it is able to give off a faint blue fluorescent glow to attract its prey.
It has no eyes, no ears, and doesn’t even sleep.
It waits.
Sometimes for days on end until a potential victim wanders across its path.
A carnivore with rows of needle like “teeth” situated between an upper and lower jaw that can snap shut on unsuspecting prey in less than a tenth of a second – faster than the blink of an eye.
But the victim doesn’t die immediately.
They begin to be digested alive.
Luckily, this creature only needs to feed every one or two months, although it can live up to 25 years in the wild.
It’s almost as if these creatures are from a different planet (and are appropriately named as such)!
The Dionaea Muscipula is definitely strange and folks have been fascinated by it for centuries.
Charles Darwin wrote that the Dionaea Muscipula was “The most wonderful (of its kind) in the world.”
In 1763, Arthur Dobbs, then governor of North Carolina, declared it “a great wonder” and compared the “jaws” of the creature to “an iron spring fox trap.”
Even Thomas Jefferson was obsessed with establishing them at his estate in Monticello but was never successfully able to get them to survive and reproduce.
That is because this species is native only to a 60-mile radius around Wilmington, NC and does not fare well in dryer, more arid climates.
The rarity of this creature makes them attractive to potential poachers who will readily remove them from their natural habitat to sell at a profit elsewhere in the country (or world).
However, human development has become more of a threat to their existence. As neighborhoods, shops and restaurants become ever more prevalent, the Dionaea Muscipula is slowly being pushed out of its very restricted home environment.
The species is currently labeled under “vulnerable” status by the government, but conservation efforts are underway with many folks fighting to protect the lands these entities inhabit.
To help with that conservation process, you too (if you’re brave enough) can absolutely raise one of these exotic creatures yourself!
Just mind their diet.
Despite their more common street name, the Dionaea Muscipula not only eat flies.
Ants, centipedes, grasshoppers, and even small frogs have all been known to be captured by the world’s most popular carnivorous plant: the Venus Fly Trap.
Just make sure you don’t ignore it if it ever yells out “FEED ME!”
