FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I came into a random conversation with an acquaintance of mine after he saw my flytraps. He mentioned a cactus that could shoot it's needles at predators if it felt the foes electric pulses if it got to close to it. I kinda don't believe him to be honest, that just seems way to smart of a plant to protect itself and scary if you have kids and they come to close to it. So I just wanted to put it out there to see if such a cactus really does exist or if you guys heard of such a thing

Sounds like a creative story that I've never heard before.

AHAHA It's a natural burglar defense!

maybe he's talking about a porcupine.

Eric wrote:maybe he's talking about a porcupine.

Porcupine literally have to hit the target to break it's quills on the the predator, this cactus apparently can do this all from the feeling of the foes electric impulses which then allows it to shoot the quills onto the body.

i thought porcupines could shoot quils.

kevinqwe wrote:i thought porcupines could shoot quils.

Not possible, there's no mammal that could do such a thing. It may be possible with plants, but that's still to be decided. Quite frankly the only thing that I can think of that shoots something as a projectile is a human with a gun.

Not sure if I believe the cactus story...
I have seen video of fish spitting water at insects on overhanging plants to knock them into the water.
You have to admit that is a nice evolutionary/learned trick!!
Peace!
E.S.

I just read something creepy about cacti. Go to the Linkhttp://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/cactus.asp

Oh wait I just read further and It's not actually real creepy though.

actally there is a plant like that its a type of orchid not a cactus i will try to find a vid of it

Cacti can't shoot needles.

Your friend deserves a good thwapping, I'd say.

Is it that thing that shoots seeds out? I don't remember the name...

English Springer wrote:Not sure if I believe the cactus story...
I have seen video of fish spitting water at insects on overhanging plants to knock them into the water.
You have to admit that is a nice evolutionary/learned trick!!
Peace!
E.S.

Oh yeah, that's a smart fish. I remember watching them, that's a sweet way of getting a meal.

Hey, my cacti don't shoot needles at me.

lemonlily wrote:Hey, my cacti don't shoot needles at me.

I would think not, it was just a specific cactus I was talking about, it probably doesn't exist.