Photosynthetic

SCP-1001 - Ya-Te-Veo by Photosynthetic

Item#: 1001

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: vlam

Risk Class: danger

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1001 is to be kept at Bio Site-103, in a greenhouse reinforced as per Dangerous Organisms Protocol 12A. It is to remain rooted in the soil core, 9 m diameter x 4 m deep, in which it was removed from the site of discovery. It is to be watered and fertilized sporadically, as detailed in Document 1001-2. No object capable of producing hazardous sound (sonic weaponry, audio-based memetic effects, high-decibel infrasound, etc.) is permitted within hearing distance of Bio Site-103.

The object is to be fed 20 kg of Nutritional Supplement 1001-R-8 once monthly. The precise formula for Nutritional Supplement 1001-R-8 is detailed in Document 1001-2, but it bears repeating that the supplement’s protein content is not to be less than 40% by mass, and that all protein is to derive from pigs, dogs, or comparably-intelligent species. These guidelines may be altered as necessary when testing requires that SCP-1001 be hungry.

Bones, horns, and other hard tissues are never to be provided except as part of duly-supervised tests. All tests involving provision of hard tissue are to be preapproved by both Dr. Glastonbury and the current Security Director of Site-103.

Description: SCP-1001 is a single plant apparently belonging to an undescribed species of Welwitschia. Unlike other Welwitschia species, it has a tree-like trunk which broadens into a woody taproot 180 cm wide and 5 m long, 2 m of which protrudes above the surface. Also unique to SCP-1001 are its leaves, which are up to 6 m long, lined with barbed prickles, and capable of secreting a sticky pitch-like resin, and which are capable of motion with considerable dexterity and strength. SCP-1001 is geographically disjunct from its known relatives, having been found in the Andean high desert near ██████, Peru.

SCP-1001’s trunk and taproot are hollow, opening to a rounded aperture at its apex, and filled with a highly caustic solution of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes comparable to those found in the pitchers of Nepenthes spp. This solution is capable of reducing 50 kg of soft animal tissue to a thin slurry within 20 minutes of submersion.

While it is capable of photosynthesis, SCP-1001’s leaves are singularly inefficient, producing only approximately 50% of the plant’s caloric requirements. Likewise, its roots are unusually ineffective at uptake of organic and mineral nutrients. To mitigate this deficiency, SCP-1001 is an obligate carnivore: it uses its prehensile leaves to capture passing prey and pull it into the central cavity, where it is digested.

SCP-1001’s intelligence is highly debatable. Its basic hunting tactics resemble those of Paralichthys spp. (flounders): it buries its longest leaves in the sand and waits for a sufficiently large animal (at least 40 kg) to pass by, whereupon it emerges suddenly and captures the passing prey. When this tactic does not produce results sufficiently quickly, however, SCP-1001 resorts to sophisticated audio mimicry. It is capable of reproducing literally any sound it has ever been exposed to, as well as recombining “known” sounds into novel phrases. It has been observed using the latter capacity to lure human prey, speaking in the voices of other humans known to the prey subject. Its means of sound production are unknown.

Also interesting are SCP-1001’s prey preferences: it prefers to consume intelligent animals, especially those capable of tool use or of building artificial structures. Humans are always its preferred prey, but in their absence it has accepted primates, dogs, parrots, pigs, beavers, ants, and nest-building birds. Note that many of these species fall well below its usual size threshold, some to such a degree that capturing and digesting them produces a net energy loss. Its method of detecting intelligence is unknown but apparently not based on experience, since it has attacked squid and small dolphins with eagerness comparable to its attacks on humans and Andean monkeys.

SCP-1001 is incapable of digesting hard tissues completely: the bones of its prey are gradually excreted through channels near the top edges of the caudex. Once excreted, these bones are invariably picked up with one of the object’s leaves and moved to a location on or beneath the soil surface surrounding SCP-1001. The object arranges the bones in complex patterns which are demonstrably useless for water capture and, being primarily subterranean, do not aid in attracting prey. Their resemblance to the ███ █████ █████ Nazca [DATA REDACTED] and the devotional mandalas of SCP-[DATA REDACTED] have led Dr. Glastonbury to hypothesize that they may be representational or even [DATA REDACTED] anomalous effects.

At the time of its discovery by the SCP Foundation in 18██, SCP-1001 was located at the center of a roughly-circular bone pattern 18 m in diameter and 8 m deep, █7% of which was composed of human bone. Nearby native tribes professed religious fear of the object and were providing it with regular human sacrifices. The sacrificial ritual, as finally divulged to Foundation interrogators, required attendant priests to escort the sacrifice toward SCP-1001 along a strictly-delineated “avenue” later found to correspond closely to certain features of the subterranean bone pattern. Deviations from the pattern were said to be punished by capture and consumption of the attendants as well as the sacrifice, but a successful ritual resulted in only one person being taken. In rare cases, a priest would be directed to move a particular bone to positions just outside the object's reach; correct placement would be rewarded either with an unspecified gift or a longer reprieve before the next required sacrifice. Oral histories state the ritual to have been originally demanded by the tree itself, [DATA REDACTED] “spoke in the voice of our [DATA REDACTED].