Appliance of Science: 'Do Venus flytraps eat flies or melt them?'

I LOVE the way children see things from a completely different perspective. Take this question sent in by six year old Ted….

“Do Venus flytraps eat flies or melt them?”

I’ve known about these carnivorous plants since my own childhood, but I never thought about how they work in quite such an interesting way. So, to answer Ted’s question… they do a bit of both; they eat the flies by melting them. Flies are less of a food for them though, and more of a food supplement.