Hunters of the Savage Garden. Peter D'Amato is leading a tour through his collection of carnivorous plants and stops to demonstrate the insect-capturing abilities of Venus' flytrap.
Tiny insects can crawl through the cage and escape.
But a larger insect can't and then the trap folds into a pouch to begin absorbing its victim. Noticing that one trap on the plant is closed and bulging, he gingerly pries it open to reveal a small, black beetle. Its back leg is still moving. Fascinated by carnivorous plants since childhood, D'Amato and partner Merilee Maertz have assembled a collection of 400 to 500 varieties of flesh eaters at their California Carnivores Nursery in Forestville in Sonoma County. Its open mouth awaiting a victim, this Nepenthes Rajah from Africa is one of the rarest specimens at Peter D'Amato's California Carnivores Nursery near Santa Rosa.