Shrew poo and deranged hamsters

Abstract

Pitcher plant potties for tree shrews on the go Carnivorous plants derive key nutrients by beckoning, trapping, and digesting insects. One class of these plants, pitcher plants, typically ensnares its prey in a slippery, inescapable, pitcher-shaped leaf full of sticky digestive fluid. But for at least three species of Nepenthes pitcher plants found in northern Borneo, the pitcher acts more like a bowl—specifically, a toilet bowl. In the fog-enshrouded mountain forests where these plants grow, insects are relatively scarce compared with other pitcher plant habitats such as lowland swamps. So the mountain-dwelling plants have repurposed their pitchers as potties, luring mouselike tree shrews, Tupaia montana, with tasty secretions. While licking the plants’ upper rims, the shrews perch with their derrieres hung over the bowl. Some of the shrews then defecate into the pitcher, giving the plants a source of needed nitrogen. Botanist Charles M. Clarke of Monash University first reported