Family Friendly Eco Adventure with Treks in Resorts World Genting: Nepenthes Conservatory

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Treks’ Nepenthe’s Conservatory is one of the latest eco attraction in Resorts World Genting.

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Located in Awana Hotel, the place aims to showcase all sort of nephentes and is an information centre for Treks’ activities and entrance is free.

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Here is where we can see all sorts of nephentes or the common name for it, pitcher plants.

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Part of the live speciments in the conservatory.

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More live speciments

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Young visitor posing with the speciments.

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Visitor taking photos of the speciments. Yes. Photography is allowed in here.

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Children being taught how to take care of the pitcher plants.

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Visitors listening to explanation on the pitcher plants.

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We were told that pitcher plants comes in varieties of sizes and colours. We learned quite a few things about the pitcher plants here. One of them is that the pitcher plants are not exactly carnivorous, dangerous or poisonous. It is a misconception that pitcher plants hunts small animals for food. The fact that it is known as carnivorous is only because the shape of the plants trap insects in it’s pitcher and they get their nutrients from there.

Foraging, flying or crawling insects such as flies are attracted to the cavity formed by the cupped leaf, often by visual lures such asanthocyanin pigments, and nectar bribes. The rim of the pitcher (peristome) is slippery, when moistened by condensation or nectar, causing insects to fall into the trap. Pitcher plants may also contain waxy scales, protruding aldehyde crystals, cuticular folds, inward and downward pointing (retrorse) hairs, or guard-cell-originating lunate cells on the inside of the pitcher to ensure that insects cannot climb out. The small bodies of liquid contained within the pitcher traps are calledphytotelmata. They drown the insect, and the body of it is gradually dissolved. This may occur by bacterial action (the bacteria being washed into the pitcher by rainfall) or byenzymes secreted by the plant itself. Furthermore, some pitcher plants containmutualistic insect larvae, which feed on trapped prey, and whose excreta the plant absorbs. Whatever the mechanism of digestion, the prey items are converted into a solution of amino acids, peptides,phosphates, ammonium and urea, from which the plant obtains its mineral nutrition (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus).

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Like all carnivorous plants, they all grow in locations where the soil is too poor in minerals and/or too acidic for most plants to survive. Rather than relying on photosynthetic glucose to survive, pitcher plants supplement available nutrients and minerals which plants normally obtain through their roots) with the constituents of their insect prey.

Interesting, don’t you think? Well, these things are much more interesting in real life, and if you are looking for something interesting and educational at no cost at all, you should visit the Treks’ Nepenthe’s Conservatory.

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Treks offers plenty of eco-related programs for people from all walks of life.

For more information on programmes offered by Treks, go to Treks’s website and Facebook page or please call 03-27181118 or logon to www.rwgenting.com

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