Compared to, say, ferns — which are nearly 400 million years old — carnivorous plants are younger and likely started appearing about eight to 72 million years ago. Since then, the number of tactics species around the world have deployed to make use of other animals for nutrition have exploded.

When was the first carnivorous plant found?

It lurked in wait for unsuspecting prey on the swampy Baltic coastline 35–47 million years ago. Now the first fossilised specimens of a carnivorous plant are helping scientists probe the organism's early evolution and its Eocene habitat.

How long has the carnivorous plant been around?

Carnivorous plants are the 'most skillful green hunters on the planet. ' About 70 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, a genetic anomaly allowed some plants to turn into meat eaters.