Carnivorous Pitcher Plant Eats Garden Bird In Somerset UK

Carnivorous Monkey Cup Pitcher Plant Gets A Mouthful Eating Garden Bird

Prize winning exotic flower and plant gardener Nigel Cooper thought his eyes were deceiving him went he went to check on his prized plant, the carnivorous Monkey Cup and found a dead blue tit garden bird inside on of its pitchers.

The Carnivorous Monkey Cup is native to south-east Asia and entice insects to eat by secreting a sweet-sticky nectar that lays at the bottom of it two or three inch deep pitcher.

It is thought that the blue tit garden bird made a serious error of judgement while trying to catch the insects that were floating in the Monkey Cup nectar trap and fell prey itself.

“In the wild the Monkey Cup is known to kill mice, and larger pitcher plants kills rats, but for a plant in Britain to kill a fully grown blue tit is amazing.

“The bird must have been attracted to the insects that were around the pitcher, sat on its lip and fallen in.

Garden Blue Tit fell Prey To Carnivorous Monkey Cup Pitcher Plant In Somerset UK

“I think it just got trapped there and died.

“It’s proved a bit much for the plant because it’s not been able to fully digest the bird which has gone a little bit rotten in the pitcher”, said the exotic expert Mr Cooper.

The name Monkey Cup given to the carnivorous plant dates back to when European explorers saw monkeys drinking water from their pitchers in the Rainforest.

Some of these exotic climbing plants have pitchers (leaves) that are large enough to hold 2 litres of water.