Praying Mantis

The praying mantis is indeed a bug, but it's a bug without equal. A dragon-like predator of the insect world, the mantis will eat just about any other insect it can successfully tackle - and that includes others of it's kind! While popular as pets among kids who don't know any better, the truth is, they are some seriously vicious insects who'd much prefer biting off your head than letting you play with their hind legs. Almost every part of their long, svelte insect figures serves as a weapon of destruction to aid the mantis in it's never-ending quest for more grasshopper brains. Read all about it...

Man's fascination with the creature quite obviously stems from the Manis' appearance - as delicate as it is, the insect has some of the most prominent features of it's entire bug race. It's movement is deliberate, you can clearly make out the different parts of it's body - essentially, it's one of the few bugs who inadvertently seems to be able to convey emotion. With one tilt of it's head, and you'd swear the thing was wondering where it's collection of hoarded beetle ass (a mantis delicacy) went to. It doesn't hurt the mystique that the mantis is generally pretty large and easily recognizable. And since modern culture so loves the bug, it's one of the few insects that don't creep us out.

In fact, in many parts of the world, a praying mantis is often kept as a pet. In China, people have been known to tie them to their beds, because the mantis will eat any other bug pests found on the premises and generally won't leave urine stains on the rug. Hell, it's name means 'prophet' in Greek, so people obviously are putting a lot of stock into this little monster. Since they have a strict diet of only eating insects and not crops, they're not regarded as pests anywhere in the world. Many parts of the world have the creatures protected by law - or at least, that's what I was told growing up. I don't know how anyone would think to make a 'no mantis killing' law here in NY, but hey, that's what we were told and we made a point never to step on the things.

I remember seeing one dead, floating in our pool as a child. I was afraid the cops would send my parents to jail if they found out, so I scooped the thing out and buried it under a pile of rocks. You might think this was an extremist and unnecessary move on my part, but in doing so, I found the chewed up Lando Calrissian action figure I had buried a year prior. So these mantises are lucky even when they're dead from chlorine poisoning.


They're found in many different parts of the world - from forests to deserts, and especially rainforests. Since they're cannibalistic, you usually won't find more than one of the species in a particular area. Yes - they'll even eat each other. Frequently, the female in a mating pair will eat her makeshift husband's head off right after sleeping with him. This isn't something that happens once in a blue moon either - it's almost like it's part of the mating ritual. The poor male mantises don't even get a chance to brag to their buddies after bagging Mary Mantis. They don't even get the post-sex cigarette. At best, they're allowed three seconds of quiet reflection before she sticks one of her pincer-like forelegs through his left eye.

How the mantis capture their prey: aside from some larger species that will literally lunge at their living lunch like a lion on caribou, most mantises lie perfectly still on some type of plant or leaf, where they're camouflaged perfectly and virtually invisible. When suitable prey passes, (basically any smaller insect or spider) the mantis will thrust forth with it's spiny legs, grasp it, and bite it's head off. The whole head biting thing works great, because few bugs put up much of a fight when they don't have a face anymore. I guess they realize that they're better off dead without it, and let the mantis eat the rest of them without much of a fight.


Mantises lay their eggs in small, spongy pockets called oothecas. Okay...who the hell names these things? The guy in charge of the Junior Jumble? The mantis eggs - which are always the same size no matter how big the mantis who hatched 'em is, hatch in 2-3 weeks, and after a few molts, look like tiny versions of their parents. Amazingly, the otherwise viciously cannibalistic mothers will often stand guard over the eggs, keeping potential threats like Evil Wasps and caviar con men away from the natural hatchery.

While there's mantises of many colors, the only thing dictating it is their surroundings. All mantises are camouflaged to fit their surroundings. Hence, mantises found in the grass would be green, mantises found in trees would be brown, and mantises found at a Wham reunion show would be hot pink. Perhaps the most beautiful of all variations is the African Flower Mantis...


These guys can come in tons of colors - from what you see above to a brilliant purple. No matter what they look like though, they're virtually all the same bug and go about life in the same way. Mantises have racial equality. It cancels out the whole 'eating the mate' thing on the morality balance scale.

Fast Facts:
* Various mantises range from a half inch in length to over a foot long. The larger ones almost always get picked first during team dodgeball. The smaller ones' heads are either eaten or used as the dodgeballs.
* Some have no wings, others have two pairs of wings. The ones without wings sometimes fashion little capes out of fallen leaves to make themselves appear more prominent.
* Larger species will actually attack, kill, and eat nesting birds and tree frogs. The birds usually are so shocked that a bug's coming anywhere near them that they don't realize what's actually going on until half their torso's being digested.
* Closest relatives in the insect kingdom include cockroaches and grasshoppers. The mantis has no love for nepotism, however, and will eat both species without hesitation.


Plus, Zorak's one of them. If they're good enough for Zorak, they're good enough for us.

- Matt