I am generally not a fan of bugs but I try to be a friend to all critters. This drives my girlfriend nuts as I will go out of my way to relocate a bug from inside our home to a more appropriate place outdoors. We have yet to have a praying mantis come inside and I may not put the critter outside so quickly if one does. I think the praying mantis is amazing. Sadly I do not see too many of them here in the desert.
I know. I know. They aren’t technically called praying mantis. They just get that nickname because of the typical “prayer-like” posture with folded fore-limbs. I am not an entomologist and have been calling this bug a praying mantis all my life so we are gonna go with that. Agreed?
If you want to learn a whole lot more about these awesome critters check out this site. There you will learn all sorts of cool facts such as how they can turn their heads 180 degrees to help them scan their surroundings with their two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located in between them. The praying mantis generally eats moths, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, and other insects which it catches with the front limbs that have these sort of hooks to snag the prey. These little guys are so bad-ass they will go after lizards or a hummingbird and not even care.
She is like the crazy nastyass honey badger …but of the insect world.
You know how most bugs will try to get away from you? Not the praying mantis. She doesn’t care. Approach her slowly and let her step onto your finger and she will just sit there on your hand. It is so cool and one of my favorite things ever to just sit quietly and look at a praying mantis while she looks back at me twisting her head side to side to get a better look even though she can see around sixty feet.
I wonder why they are not scared? Maybe because they can probably kill me with their Bruce Lee like reflexes, their dagger sharp claws and their vice like surgically sharp teeth. I mean the adult female sometimes eats her mate just after or even during mating. Gulp!
So somebody please remind me once again why it is I like the praying mantis so much?
Oh yeah. Because she is beautiful, gentle, is not scared …and makes me smile.
What do you think of the praying mantis? Do you have a favorite bug or critter that makes you smile? Let me know in the comments.
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