ITEM#: 1001 LEVEL2 RESTRICTED
CONTAINMENT CLASS: EUCLID
DISRUPTION CLASS: VLAM
RISK CLASS: DANGER
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1001 is to be kept at Bio Site-103, in a greenhouse
reinforced as per Dangerous Organisms Protocol 12A.
It is to remain rooted in the soil core, 9 m diameter x 4 m deep, in which it was removed
from the site of discovery.
It is to be watered and fertilized sporadically, as detailed in Document 1001-2.
No object capable of producing hazardous sound (sonic weaponry, audio-based memetic effects,
high-decibel infrasound, etc.) is permitted within hearing distance of Bio Site-103.
The object is to be fed 20 kg of Nutritional Supplement 1001-R-8 once monthly.
The precise formula for Nutritional Supplement 1001-R-8 is detailed in Document 1001-2, but
it bears repeating that the supplement’s protein content is not to be less than 40%
by mass, and that all protein is to derive from pigs, dogs, or comparably-intelligent
species.
These guidelines may be altered as necessary when testing requires that SCP-1001 be hungry.
Bones, horns, and other hard tissues are never to be provided except as part of duly-supervised
tests.
All tests involving provision of hard tissue are to be preapproved by both Dr. Glastonbury
and the current Security Director of Site-103.
Description: SCP-1001 is a single plant apparently belonging to an undescribed species of Welwitschia.
Unlike other Welwitschia species, it has a tree-like trunk which broadens into a woody
taproot 180 cm wide and 5 m long, 2 m of which protrudes above the surface.
Also unique to SCP-1001 are its leaves, which are up to 6 m long, lined with barbed prickles,
and capable of secreting a sticky pitch-like resin, and which are capable of motion with
considerable dexterity and strength.
SCP-1001 is geographically disjunct from its known relatives, having been found in the
Andean high desert near ██████, Peru.
SCP-1001’s trunk and taproot are hollow, opening to a rounded aperture at its apex,
and filled with a highly caustic solution of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes
comparable to those found in the pitchers of Nepenthes spp.
This solution is capable of reducing 50 kg of soft animal tissue to a thin slurry within
20 minutes of submersion.
While it is capable of photosynthesis, SCP-1001’s leaves are singularly inefficient, producing
only approximately 50% of the plant’s caloric requirements.
Likewise, its roots are unusually ineffective at uptake of organic and mineral nutrients.
To mitigate this deficiency, SCP-1001 is an obligate carnivore: it uses its prehensile
leaves to capture passing prey and pull it into the central cavity, where it is digested.
SCP-1001’s intelligence is highly debatable.
Its basic hunting tactics resemble those of Paralichthys spp.
(flounders): it buries its longest leaves in the sand and waits for a sufficiently large
animal (at least 40 kg) to pass by, whereupon it emerges suddenly and captures the passing
prey.
When this tactic does not produce results sufficiently quickly, however, SCP-1001 resorts
to sophisticated audio mimicry.
It is capable of reproducing literally any sound it has ever been exposed to, as well
as recombining “known” sounds into novel phrases.
It has been observed using the latter capacity to lure human prey, speaking in the voices
of other humans known to the prey subject.
Its means of sound production are unknown.
Also interesting are SCP-1001’s prey preferences: it prefers to consume intelligent animals,
especially those capable of tool use or of building artificial structures.
Humans are always its preferred prey, but in their absence it has accepted primates,
dogs, parrots, pigs, beavers, ants, and nest-building birds.
Note that many of these species fall well below its usual size threshold, some to such
a degree that capturing and digesting them produces a net energy loss.
Its method of detecting intelligence is unknown but apparently not based on experience, since
it has attacked squid and small dolphins with eagerness comparable to its attacks on humans
and Andean monkeys.
SCP-1001 is incapable of digesting hard tissues completely: the bones of its prey are gradually
excreted through channels near the top edges of the caudex.
Once excreted, these bones are invariably picked up with one of the object’s leaves
and moved to a location on or beneath the soil surface surrounding SCP-1001.
The object arranges the bones in complex patterns which are demonstrably useless for water capture
and, being primarily subterranean, do not aid in attracting prey.
Their resemblance to the ███ █████ █████ Nazca [DATA REDACTED] and the devotional mandalas
of SCP-[DATA REDACTED] have led Dr. Glastonbury to hypothesize that they may be representational
or even [DATA REDACTED] anomalous effects.
At the time of its discovery by the SCP Foundation in 18██, SCP-1001 was located at the center
of a roughly-circular bone pattern 18 m in diameter and 8 m deep, █7% of which was
composed of human bone.
Nearby native tribes professed religious fear of the object and were providing it with regular
human sacrifices.
The sacrificial ritual, as finally divulged to Foundation interrogators, required attendant
priests to escort the sacrifice toward SCP-1001 along a strictly-delineated “avenue” later
found to correspond closely to certain features of the subterranean bone pattern.
Deviations from the pattern were said to be punished by capture and consumption of the
attendants as well as the sacrifice, but a successful ritual resulted in only one person
being taken.
In rare cases, a priest would be directed to move a particular bone to positions just
outside the object's reach; correct placement would be rewarded either with an unspecified
gift or a longer reprieve before the next required sacrifice.
Oral histories state the ritual to have been originally demanded by the tree itself, [DATA
REDACTED] “spoke in the voice of our [DATA REDACTED].