We’ve all heard about pitcher plants and Venus fly traps; carnivorous plants that trap insects and sometimes bigger animals to get their nutrients. Most vegetarians probably don’t concern themselves with these plants since they would never consider eating them. But what if they were to find out that some of their beloved vegetables were responsible for the deaths of animals?

According to the Independent,

Researchers at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew now believe there are hundreds more plants that catch and eat insects and other small animals than they previously realised. Among them are species of petunia, ornamental tobacco plants, potatoes and tomatoes and shepherd’s purse, a relative of cabbages.

These plants aren’t exactly overt about being carnivorous, like the pitcher plant and fly trap. In fact, the research shows that aside from being responsible for the deaths themselves, these plants absorb the dead bodies through the soil just like we have always known. But the difference really is the death. These plants use sticky hairs, leaves and other small adaptations to keep the meat coming.

So next time your vegetarian friend bites into a tomato, you may want to tell them that a healthy dose of animal lives were sacrificed in the making of that semi-food.

(via the Independent)

Although Nepenthes Attenboroughii would be a pretty badass name, it is actually the name of a recently-discovered plant in the Philippines.

Apparently not all heroes come in human form.

This plant lives by the tenets of unvegans everywhere, because it is no ordinary plant. In fact, it is a giant pitcher plant. When people think of plants that eat animals, Venus Flytraps or Little Shop of Horrors are typically the first things that come to mind. Well, Venus Flytraps are child’s play compared to Nepenthes Attenboroughii, which is capable of consuming entire rodents.

Steward McPherson, one of scientists who discovered the plant, said, “I found a [different] species in Borneo with pitchers half the size with dead mice in it.” With this knowledge, there is no doubt that Nepenthes Attenboroughii has eaten its fair share of meat.

For bridging the gap of heroes and eating animals even though most plants don’t know how to, Nepenthes Attenboroughii, you are a true Unvegan Hero!

(via Times Online)

From The Wizard of Oz to The Lord of the Rings, talking trees have been a part of fantasy for a long time. Well, perhaps these thoughts should finally be freed from the land of myth. I recently discovered an old article thanks to this article in The Huffington Post.

It is entitled “Do Trees Communicate for Mutual Defense?” by Larry Gedney and although it’s from way back in 1986, the article cites a lot of research I had never heard of before. According to the research, trees under attack are able to communicate to each other to warn them about the danger. Once warned, the other trees can then defend themselves, such as by producing a chemical to ward off attacking insects.

To me, this throws so many vegan arguments out the window. If vegans are worried about the pain they cause animals, then what of the pain they cause to plants? If trees can recognize danger, pain is hardly a stretch. And if this happens in trees, who is the say it doesn’t happen in all other plants? Perhaps the plants don’t communicate their pain through sound like the animal world does, but through chemical reactions that other plants can feel.

Plants may not have the cute little beady eyes that animals do, but they are just as, if not more innocent. There are numerous plants that move during the course of the day to be able to get the most sun. This is no different from a sheep in the pasture searching for the best patch of grass, except that sheep, at some point in their evolution had the mobile ability to escape being eaten.

Hell, some plants, like the venus fly trap and pitcher plant are carnivorous. Why, then, is it wrong for humans to be?

If vegans and vegetarians want to tell me that eating animals is wrong, then they have a lot of research to do and a lot to learn themselves.

(via The Huffington Post and Alaska Science Forum)