The praying mantis is one of the coolest animals. My favorite praying mantis fact is how it uses mimicry to look like an orchid. Praying mantises also have five eyes. Today we learn 10 incredible facts about praying mantises.
Did you know any of these praying mantis facts? Listen to my English narration, and music, and watch the HD video clips. Scroll below if you prefer to read the facts about praying mantis.
10 Cool Facts About the Praying Mantis
The praying mantis is a fascinating insect that has captivated people’s attention for centuries. With their unique appearance and predatory behavior, they have become a popular subject of study and admiration among entomologists and nature enthusiasts alike. Learn more about them below.
ALSO READ/WATCH: Facts about puffer fish or Gross facts about kissing bug
10. Mimicry Masters
Praying Mantises are ambush predators and rely on camouflage to stay hidden as their prey moves near them. They even mimic the movement of plants in the wind to stay hidden. Here is the stick mantis.
The dead leaf mantis. The green leaf mantis. And my favorite is the orchid mantis.
This orchid mantis looks so much like a flower that when it was first discovered, people thought it was a carnivorous plant, like a venus fly trap.
Mantises use this mimicry to hide from predators as well. They are tasty for animals like frogs, lizards, birds, and spiders.
9. Sexual cannibalism
During or after mating, 25% of the time, the female eats the male. She starts by biting his head off and works her way down. This meal is so big that it provides almost half of the calories needed to produce her eggs.
8. 1-year life span
The praying mantis has a short life cycle. Mating happens in the fall, and if a male isn’t killed by his Mrs, he usually will die within a couple of weeks from old age. Maybe this is why he doesn’t mind being eaten alive.
80% of all mantis species are tropical, but in colder climates, the species survive the winter by winterizing the egg sacks. The female hides the eggs and covers them in an insulating case called an ootheca. Each ootheca can give birth to over 100 babies in the spring.
7. Praying, not preying
I always thought the spelling was “P-R-E-Y” because the mantis stalks its prey. But no, it is spelled “P-R-A-Y” because of how the front hands are bent. These insects look like they are praying to god, and some Christians think they are a good luck charm around your home.
Are they really angels watching over you? I don’t think so, but some gardeners do stock them on purpose for pest control.
And 800 years ago, Northern China also developed a martial arts technique based on this threatening pose by the Kung Fu Mantis.
6. 5 Eyes
The praying mantis has impressive vision, featuring 2 bulging compound eyes. They have a wide field of vision, and most of the eye is used for motion sensing. However, only the front part of the eyes can produce a crisp image. This area is called the fovea.
The mantis can rotate its head 180 degrees to focus both foveas on 1 target, gaining 3d vision. They have perhaps the best depth perception of all insects and prefer to hunt during the daytime because that is when their eyes work the best.
In addition to the 2 huge compound eyes, praying mantises have 3 smaller eyes on their foreheads. These 3 small eyes are used only to sense light and are much more primitive.
5. A live diet
The praying mantis mostly eats other insects like butterflies, beetles, crickets, and bees. However, they have been seen eating larger animals like hummingbirds, geckos, and even fish! They also eat other praying mantises of their own species.
Part of their mouth is used to cut and tear, and other parts are used to stuff the food inside, like little fingers.
4. Strong Arms
Praying mantises rely on hiding and surprise attacks. They have no venom or sting, so they use sheer force and their prominent arms to impale and grasp their prey.
Their arms are barbed and tipped with sharp spikes. They work like an arrowhead, keeping the victim in place.
The mantis lays in waiting and uses its 3d vision to strike when the victim moves within range. The strike is lightning-quick and can hardly be seen by the human eye. Once the mantis has something in its grasp, the mouth can decapitate and tear it apart.
3. Closely related to cockroaches
Although they look pretty different, the mantis’s closest living relatives are cockroaches and termites. This Superorder is called Dicty-optera.
These insects all evolved about 200 million years ago in the Jurassic period. Cockroaches, termites, and praying mantises haven’t evolved much in 200 million years because they were already so successful at surviving in a wide range of environments.
2. Weak flyers
Most praying mantis species can fly short distances. But, They make deafening flapping noises, which is not very sneaky. They are quite poor fliers because of their large size. Mantises prefer to jump from branch to branch.
Females are always larger than males, and some females cannot fly. Males fly around at night to find females by tracking mating pheromones.
- Zero or 1 ear?
The flying praying mantises species have one ear on their belly. With just one ear, they cannot detect the direction of a sound, but it is helpful for one reason. They can hear a hunting bat’s ultrasonic echolocation ping.
If the mantis is flying and hears this sound, the insect goes into an immediate nose dive. It crashes into the ground and avoids being scooped up by the bat.
The mantis species without wings have lost their hearing and ears over time because hearing is not particularly useful when they aren’t airborne.
SUMMARY OF FACTS ABOUT PRAYING MANTIS
In conclusion, praying mantises are fascinating creatures with unique physical characteristics and behaviors. They are adept hunters, using their incredible speed and agility to capture prey much larger than themselves. Despite their fearsome reputation, they are also beneficial to humans as natural pest control agents in gardens and agricultural fields.
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