The dakteron (Na'vi name: yomhì'ang meaning "small animal (insect) eater") bears some resemblance to a well-known insectivorous plant on Earth: nepenthes, one of the pitcher plants.
Similar to its namesake, the dakteron has a large leaf modified into a hanging pitcher, with stiff, downward-pointing hairs inside that prevent any insects inside from exiting out the top. Other leaves on the plant are more typical and have an expanded blade, although they are largely blue in color. When they are bioluminescent, they are shown to have red edges, however.
Dakteron in Avatar: The Game
The flower of the dakteron is an elaborate structure with two large, bulbous appendages arising from the base. The many pores on these appendages give them the appearance of the sea coral. These bright blue structures emit a lovely fragrance that is attractive to insects. Lured by the scent, insects land on the leaf pitcher and crawl inside searching for food, only to be trapped and ultimately digested by the plant.
The remarkable effectiveness of the dakteron in trapping insects is put to good use on Pandora. Pieces of the stem are planted near dwellings, where they will take root and grow leaf pitchers that keep the area free of biting insects. This may have applications for equatorial infestation regions on Earth.
According to some human activists, dakteron possesses properties that could eradicate the River Blindness pandemic.[1]
Trivia[]
- They were also modeled for Avatar: Reckoning.
Sources[]
- James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide
- James Cameron's Avatar: The Game - Ingame Pandorapedia
References[]
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