One of Georgia’s infamous meatpackers surprised a group of elementary school students during a debriefing to discover it was still digesting a lizard.
Photo of Georgia by Dr
One of Georgia’s infamous meatpackers surprised a group of elementary school students by revealing that its latest meal, a lizard, was still in the process of being digested.
The discovery was made as a regret of the state biologist dissected the carnivorous pitcher plant.
“During a routine native plant presentation with a group of elementary school students, our biologists learned a valuable lesson: check the plant before you pick it,” the Georgia Department of Natural Resources wrote in a Sept. 11 Facebook post.
“The plan was to dissect the pitcher plant to show the students its contents, which usually consist of beetles and various flying insects. To everyone’s surprise, they found a green anole.”
Photos posted on Facebook show the lizard sitting in one of the plant’s trumpet-like pitchers, nose down and still intact (except for a hole in its neck).
The reaction of the students was not immediately known, and state officials did not name the school.
There are green anoles tree-dwelling lizards, bugs which grow up to 8 inches in Georgia.
It is suspected that a hungry lizard was chasing a beetle on a plant when it slipped into the pitcher and became “a feast for this plant.”
“This carnivorous plant attracts insect prey through a combination of scent, gravity and a waxy, slimy substance, causing the prey to fall into the pitcher,” the state wrote.
“In the core of the plant, hairs directed downwards make escape impossible. At the very bottom of the pitcher is a pool of liquid that drowns and digests the prey, leaving the exoskeletons to accumulate inside.’
The state government reports that 11 species of plants in Georgia are in decline due to swamp drainage and overharvesting. Pitcher plants are a protective species in Georgia, they are known to thrive “on the acidic soils of open bogs and sphagnum bogs,” experts say.
As of Sept. 12, the state’s Facebook post about the gruesome lesson had drawn nearly 1,200 reactions and comments, with many saying they had found it all. like “cool.»
“I’m stupid. I wonder if the plant burped.” one commenter wrote.
