The life of a Mantis Religiosa
One day, on a cold fall morning, eggs were laid on a branch deep in a beautiful green bush, surrounded in a hard shell, to keep the eggs warm throughout the brutal winter and protected from any predators looking for food. It was getting warmer week by week and day by day, spring was here. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, bugs were coming out, and so were praying mantis’. The Mantis Religiosa heard a beautiful chirping sound out of her shell, out of the weeks she has spent inside her egg, she has never heard this sound before. She was ready to leave the egg, that she has lived in for 5 months throughout the cold winter. As she crawled between the tiny flaps in her shell, with many of her siblings, she emerged into the beautiful world, seeing birds flying and flowers blooming. She hung from a thread of her egg shell, drying her body out and taking in the beautiful sight of the world. She suddenly became overwhelmed with a voracious appetite; She didn’t hesitate to leap out with her forelegs and capture her first meal, which resembled her quite a bit. As it is not uncommon for a young praying mantis, a nymph, to feed off another nymph as their first meal.
As the days go by, and as the temperature continues to get warmer, approaching summer, she begins to lose her appetite, she stays in the same spot day and night, hanging upside down and begins to pale and lose her color. She starts to shake and quiver which made her skin break off, revealing new skin and allowing her to grow. She then began crawling through her old skin, revealing fresh skin and a much larger size. She did this on a secluded branch, hidden beneath a leaf as she is at her most vulnerable. This is one of the most crucial parts of this mantis’ life, if she is too slow to get out of her skin, she could get stuck inside her old skin and her new skin will harden, making her trapped in her own skin and causing her to die. If she is not stable enough, she could fall, and die. With a successful shed, she is far too weak to eat anything or protect herself from crickets and birds that will want to feed on her fresh new skin. Her skin must harden before she can eat any prey Luckily she was hidden beneath the leaves and on an empty branch that no insects or birds found her. She sheds her skin seven times throughout her entire life until she is a fully mature adult. She starts to develop wings by the fifth shed although it is rare for her to fly, she uses her wings to threaten other animals and to fly away from any predators.
She was laid upon a milkweed leaf, hunting for food and could see a honeybee coming from 60 feet away, the honeybee was completely unaware that she laid upon the leaf of the same flower, due to her incredible camouflage. She was hunting it, she waited with her forelegs held together in a way that makes it look like she is praying that the bee will not notice her. she had the advantage, as the bee could not see her. As she slowly approached the bee, she thrusts her forelegs forward and captures the bee, she bites the neck first, to paralyze so it can’t escape and she devours it, feeling no remorse. Even though she was only doing what she knew, that bee was doing exactly what he knew to do and that was to pollinate flowers, which is extremely beneficial to the flowers.
As she was waiting for her next meal to approach, she saw a bird coming down onto the same plant, with her incredible eyes, she stayed still, moving only her head, which can do a full 180-degree rotation, to find where the bird has landed. The bird is not a predator to Mantis Religiosa, it is a hummingbird, which cannot eat a mantis but will eat a mantis’ food like beetles, and crickets. But she felt threatened by it, since it came up right behind her, feeding off of the flower that she rested upon. Since she felt threatened by it she had no other choice but to stand as tall as she could and spread her wings out and her forelegs out in hopes to scare off the bird. She did not scare it off. Instead, she got a hold of the bird’s neck, paralyzing it as she does and she began to eat the bird. This was rather rarer due to the size of the bird and the size of her. She was much smaller than the bird was but with her razor sharp forelegs and her strong jaw, she had accomplished feasting off the bird.
She was rather full after her delicious and rather large hummingbird, she hadn’t eaten a new meal in a two days because of the size of her last one. Now she found herself rather hungry, she waited praying an insect would come by, just her luck a brown marmorated stink bug flew onto a flower near her. The stink bug began to eat on the flower, which can possibly kill the plant, since stink bugs can transmit plant diseases. She crept toward the stink bug, slowly and invisible. When she was close enough, she leapt forward and captured the stink bug with her forelegs and started to devour it. Her feasting on stink bugs was very beneficial for the environment and for the crops in the area, as stink bugs are notoriously known for feeding off of fruits and flowers making them contract a disease, or not being able to sell them.
She rested after her meal of the stink bug, in a fenced in garden, on a bright green bush surrounded by flowers. She enjoyed it there, there were many crickets, stink bugs, wasps and beetles that she could feast on for her next meals. There were lots of leaves and it was very green so that she is able to stay invisible from her prey and predators. She stayed around the green, safe area for a few weeks feeding off of all the delicious insects that came in her way.
As the colder temperatures neared, it was time for her to start preparing for the next generation of praying mantis’ before she died. She released her pheromones to let the male praying mantis’ know that she was ready for a mate. The male could sense her pheromones through his antennae and he flew to where she was resting, which is the only time a praying mantis will typically fly. The male performed a courtship ritual by approaching slowly, mounting her and calming her by using his antennae to tap her pronotum to prove he is worthy of fertilizing her eggs. She rejected him. The male was rather small compared to her, if he timed his mount incorrectly again it could end in her devouring the male instead of mating. The male was near her days before he decided to approach again, he slowly approached again and mounted her, calming her down with his antenna and this time she approved of him. The male curled his abdomen underneath her, until he met her ovipositor and began to fertilize her eggs. This took a day of mating and then the male flew off, a safe distance away from her.
A few days after she mated, her abdomen begins to swell, she had eaten many insects, like crickets and beetles every day to get the nutrition needed and she became very fat. She is pregnant for a week, and then her eggs are ready to be laid, she finds a branch, in a fenced garden, deep in the bush that is study enough to hold her weight. She begins to lay her eggs, which are laid in an ootheca, which is a protective covering for the eggs that will last throughout the winter and from other predators looking for food. It took her 3 hours to lay all of her eggs and it begins to look like the size of large chicken egg after she is finished. She ends up dying 2 weeks after laying her eggs due to the cold temperatures in which she cannot survive and the lack of food.
The ootheca laid by her, was founded by a human, this human watched the ootheca throughout winter and as it started to warm up, they brought it indoors to watch them hatch out of their shell. When the mantis hatched, they did not release them into the wild, they kept them in a cage feeding them with crickets and flies. When they were mature enough, they took a female and male and mated them, allowing for another generation of mantis’ that would go on to be sold to farmers for the health of the crops to keep pests out.
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=25677
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/science/praying-mantis-eating-birds.html
https://animals.mom.com/how-can-i-tell-if-my-praying-mantis-is-molting-12531991.html
One day, on a cold fall morning, eggs were laid on a branch deep in a beautiful green bush, surrounded in a hard shell, to keep the eggs warm throughout the brutal winter and protected from any predators looking for food. It was getting warmer week by week and day by day, spring was here. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, bugs were coming out, and so were praying mantis’. The Mantis Religiosa heard a beautiful chirping sound out of her shell, out of the weeks she has spent inside her egg, she has never heard this sound before. She was ready to leave the egg, that she has lived in for 5 months throughout the cold winter. As she crawled between the tiny flaps in her shell, with many of her siblings, she emerged into the beautiful world, seeing birds flying and flowers blooming. She hung from a thread of her egg shell, drying her body out and taking in the beautiful sight of the world. She suddenly became overwhelmed with a voracious appetite; She didn’t hesitate to leap out with her forelegs and capture her first meal, which resembled her quite a bit. As it is not uncommon for a young praying mantis, a nymph, to feed off another nymph as their first meal.
As the days go by, and as the temperature continues to get warmer, approaching summer, she begins to lose her appetite, she stays in the same spot day and night, hanging upside down and begins to pale and lose her color. She starts to shake and quiver which made her skin break off, revealing new skin and allowing her to grow. She then began crawling through her old skin, revealing fresh skin and a much larger size. She did this on a secluded branch, hidden beneath a leaf as she is at her most vulnerable. This is one of the most crucial parts of this mantis’ life, if she is too slow to get out of her skin, she could get stuck inside her old skin and her new skin will harden, making her trapped in her own skin and causing her to die. If she is not stable enough, she could fall, and die. With a successful shed, she is far too weak to eat anything or protect herself from crickets and birds that will want to feed on her fresh new skin. Her skin must harden before she can eat any prey Luckily she was hidden beneath the leaves and on an empty branch that no insects or birds found her. She sheds her skin seven times throughout her entire life until she is a fully mature adult. She starts to develop wings by the fifth shed although it is rare for her to fly, she uses her wings to threaten other animals and to fly away from any predators.
She was laid upon a milkweed leaf, hunting for food and could see a honeybee coming from 60 feet away, the honeybee was completely unaware that she laid upon the leaf of the same flower, due to her incredible camouflage. She was hunting it, she waited with her forelegs held together in a way that makes it look like she is praying that the bee will not notice her. she had the advantage, as the bee could not see her. As she slowly approached the bee, she thrusts her forelegs forward and captures the bee, she bites the neck first, to paralyze so it can’t escape and she devours it, feeling no remorse. Even though she was only doing what she knew, that bee was doing exactly what he knew to do and that was to pollinate flowers, which is extremely beneficial to the flowers.
As she was waiting for her next meal to approach, she saw a bird coming down onto the same plant, with her incredible eyes, she stayed still, moving only her head, which can do a full 180-degree rotation, to find where the bird has landed. The bird is not a predator to Mantis Religiosa, it is a hummingbird, which cannot eat a mantis but will eat a mantis’ food like beetles, and crickets. But she felt threatened by it, since it came up right behind her, feeding off of the flower that she rested upon. Since she felt threatened by it she had no other choice but to stand as tall as she could and spread her wings out and her forelegs out in hopes to scare off the bird. She did not scare it off. Instead, she got a hold of the bird’s neck, paralyzing it as she does and she began to eat the bird. This was rather rarer due to the size of the bird and the size of her. She was much smaller than the bird was but with her razor sharp forelegs and her strong jaw, she had accomplished feasting off the bird.
She was rather full after her delicious and rather large hummingbird, she hadn’t eaten a new meal in a two days because of the size of her last one. Now she found herself rather hungry, she waited praying an insect would come by, just her luck a brown marmorated stink bug flew onto a flower near her. The stink bug began to eat on the flower, which can possibly kill the plant, since stink bugs can transmit plant diseases. She crept toward the stink bug, slowly and invisible. When she was close enough, she leapt forward and captured the stink bug with her forelegs and started to devour it. Her feasting on stink bugs was very beneficial for the environment and for the crops in the area, as stink bugs are notoriously known for feeding off of fruits and flowers making them contract a disease, or not being able to sell them.
She rested after her meal of the stink bug, in a fenced in garden, on a bright green bush surrounded by flowers. She enjoyed it there, there were many crickets, stink bugs, wasps and beetles that she could feast on for her next meals. There were lots of leaves and it was very green so that she is able to stay invisible from her prey and predators. She stayed around the green, safe area for a few weeks feeding off of all the delicious insects that came in her way.
As the colder temperatures neared, it was time for her to start preparing for the next generation of praying mantis’ before she died. She released her pheromones to let the male praying mantis’ know that she was ready for a mate. The male could sense her pheromones through his antennae and he flew to where she was resting, which is the only time a praying mantis will typically fly. The male performed a courtship ritual by approaching slowly, mounting her and calming her by using his antennae to tap her pronotum to prove he is worthy of fertilizing her eggs. She rejected him. The male was rather small compared to her, if he timed his mount incorrectly again it could end in her devouring the male instead of mating. The male was near her days before he decided to approach again, he slowly approached again and mounted her, calming her down with his antenna and this time she approved of him. The male curled his abdomen underneath her, until he met her ovipositor and began to fertilize her eggs. This took a day of mating and then the male flew off, a safe distance away from her.
A few days after she mated, her abdomen begins to swell, she had eaten many insects, like crickets and beetles every day to get the nutrition needed and she became very fat. She is pregnant for a week, and then her eggs are ready to be laid, she finds a branch, in a fenced garden, deep in the bush that is study enough to hold her weight. She begins to lay her eggs, which are laid in an ootheca, which is a protective covering for the eggs that will last throughout the winter and from other predators looking for food. It took her 3 hours to lay all of her eggs and it begins to look like the size of large chicken egg after she is finished. She ends up dying 2 weeks after laying her eggs due to the cold temperatures in which she cannot survive and the lack of food.
The ootheca laid by her, was founded by a human, this human watched the ootheca throughout winter and as it started to warm up, they brought it indoors to watch them hatch out of their shell. When the mantis hatched, they did not release them into the wild, they kept them in a cage feeding them with crickets and flies. When they were mature enough, they took a female and male and mated them, allowing for another generation of mantis’ that would go on to be sold to farmers for the health of the crops to keep pests out.
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=25677
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/science/praying-mantis-eating-birds.html
https://animals.mom.com/how-can-i-tell-if-my-praying-mantis-is-molting-12531991.html