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deutschdachs t1_j6j7qqd wrote

Reply to comment by wojtekpolska in Venus fly trap on the hunt by c0ntr0ll3dsubstance

Larger pitcher plants can catch mice. The squealing has to be horrible :(

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RevengencerAlf t1_j6jcj0q wrote

They probably drown before any meaningful dissolving/burning happens, and most animals drown quietly to my non-biologist understanding. There's not a lot of evolutionary benefit to alerting other mice since they can't/wouldn't help and it's not like an active predator that could chase them down. As far as I know it's mostly limited to humans and domesticated animals that are accustomed to someone coming to their aid and being able to physically pull them out of situations of distress. when an animal thinks it's drowning and it can't expect that help it's not energy efficient to tire itself out quicker by wasting extra breath screaming.

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Michel_is_Gros t1_j6jwb99 wrote

The interesting thing is that not even humans tend to be very loud if they're actually drowning, since all their energy and breath goes toward keeping themselves alive, like most animals. I think the loud splashing scene you'd probably expect (like movies like to portray) comes more from a panicking person than someone drowning, which could of course become a drowning hazard from tiring themselves out.

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RevengencerAlf t1_j6jxf52 wrote

Yep. It's also kind of a known thing that kids especially just kind of drown quietly and suddenly.

I think any noise making is not instinct and a purely learned behavior. Making noise when drowning only makes sense if there's someone like literally right there to help.

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Michel_is_Gros t1_j6jxmid wrote

The diving reflex is both great and terrifying, depending on the context.

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Takenabe t1_j6jayhs wrote

They probably drown in a matter of minutes. Not very different from if a mouse falls into a river.

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magicarnival t1_j6krttm wrote

I've seen some pics of venus flytraps with small lizards trapped in them too. Not as noisy, but still more sentient than a bug.

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