This is one of my favorite insects!
With over 2000 species worldwide, the mantises can be a force to be reckoned with!
Praying Mantises are generally a tropical insect, but they can be found in temperate parts of the world as well. With their strange behavior and triangle-like head, they are peculiar indeed. In fact, they are some the most popular insects for humans to keep as pets.
Their front legs are equipped with large raptor-like spikes that they use to grasp their prey. They are ambush predator and will fit perched with their front legs bent and ready for action, which can resemble someone praying. This is where they get their name from.
The first one we found today (we found three total, of two different species) was a excellent gray camouflage color. It was on the trunk of a tree, and blended in very well. Enjoy the video!
The information is the video is original but I did have a quick refresher from this source.
THE WILD-MAN'S WILD FRIENDS - EPISODE 54
PRAYING MANTIS
If you enjoy these videos, please consider thanking @thelivingpoet for encouraging me to make them!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-wild-friend-praying-mantis
Until next time…
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following you from almost last 5-6 months and always loved your work...
Thanks for letting me know!
Did you know praying mantis can mate for over 24hours and then the ungrateful female try's to eat the male , cheers mike
No I did not!
I'm really enjoying your daily posts. Mantis totem today is right on time. In some Eastern cultures mantis means one is sharpening the ability to watch and patiently wait for the right time; also for a mantis to cross your path indicates a great deal of success is coming as a result of the work already done...
@papa-pepper is the coolest 😎
Darn, I was getting ready to post a praying mantis that attacked the cell phone trying to take his picture. I'll wait now. Great info for these little darlings. They are a nice this wonder. Thanks for sharing.
Please, do post the mantis photo, I think it will be awesome!
Oh, go for it! No need to wait. We all have similar experiences sometimes!
Great post for wild life lovers...
Upvoted and Resteem your post!
Thanks for sharing...
Wow, papa peper it seems like we have the same favorite insect the Praying Mantis.. When i was a child i used to play it and fighy it over. :)
Sir i have a drawing can you visit me here? And i evaluate it :)
https://steemit.com/art/@jaderpogi/my-first-attempt-to-draw-here-in-steemit-or-using-my-gel-and-black-color-pencil-or-step-by-step-drawing-steemit
Love your lifestyle pepper. Thanks for providing good content to entertain and inform people.
Much love <3 Goldie !
Impressive!
Very cool. I actually had a dream last night that I got bit by a praying mantis, kind of strange.
Very strange. Were you okay?
great post keep it up!!
Is this Jackie Chan in Kung Fu Panda? Hehehe!
Lmao!!! i got the joke
What kind of lens do you use, your pictures are amazing!!!
a good story and can be an inspiration to many people
Wow! Great entertainer creature you have played with. Thanks for sharing the information.
@papa-pepper, Great post keep it up.
Very cool video and post. Awesome how you captured it just chilling and cleaning itself and got some good footage of the mantis looking at the camera. Had no idea they were one of the most popular pets for insects, but when you think about it, it does make sense.
Keep on providing the great content!
Edit: I was going to ask how you spotted that thing on the tree, but I guess it was pretty obvious when it started to run up your pant leg haha.
Actually, it was on a tree that I had chopped down. When I started to cut it with the chainsaw, it ran up my leg. Kind of hard to miss it at that point. LOL
Yeah but the picture of the tree in your post i cant even see the mantis. Was going to be really impressed if thats how you caught it. Lol.
In my area, this animal helps the pointer, he will give his hand gestures when asked west or east. Do not know if it's proven or not, just share it. Nice share papa👼👼👼
The Praying mantis and how well it can camouflage itself fascinated me as a kid, well into my teens basically till I left home at 18, I would often head out into the more wilder areas near home searching for them it became a challenge because they hid themselves so well
Thanks for the cool memories
Those are cool memories! After we released this one in the garden, A different species flew in that my son saw. Then, while we were following it as it flew around, it landed near another one that my daughter then saw.
I guess having so many pairs of eyes helps me! LOL
Ohh yes it must be great having your litle helpers :)
have a great weekend
Wild man and his friends and are amazing @papa-pepper.
You are a wild man letting it on your face.
Omg! You have it on your face. It doesn't sting?
We used to see them all the time in Greece. Their camouflage is amazing, almost chameleon-like. They "box" with you if you play with them as I've seen some kids do. I never thought of the angle that their name comes from the way they sit prayer-like in wait for their prey. Thank you
Hey, @papa-pepper! We have one living on my back porch. He's kinda cute and we don't mind him. He's eating the insects on our garden plants. Hopefully, he'll find a mate soon so we can have a few more in our garden.
These things use to scare me as a kid. I was fascinated by them, but I never tried picking them up. Very cool post! I just finished up an article about a wasp mantidfly that I found in my back yard. If you've never seen one, you should check it out! It looks like a wasp, but it has those raptor-like forearms of a mantis.
Funny I was just looking at photos of all different kinds of mantis yesterday. Some are beautiful and others just darn right creepy! Amazing creatures. I definately wouldn't let it touch my face though!!
Not long after we moved to Suriname I got to see my first Mantis eating half of a cockroach. The other half must already been in his stomach I guess.
The praying mantis immediately came on my favorite insect buddylist just like the gecko's because of their shared interest in eating cockroaches....hahaha...
ps: The praying mantis is a fascinating insect. It makes me think of a drunk miniature T-rex with camouflage capabilities...with tinkerbell wings hidden under his batman cape...
pps: If you get a change try to capture them on camera with 120 fps the moment they try to fly away. :)
Really enjoy your posts and the videos. Thanks for sharing all these amazing creatures and all the info about them. Always learning something new from your posts. Love following you, because I never know what else you have to show us.
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It's funny but I havent seen any praying -mantis here in Florida. Come to think about it I haven't seen any insects/bugs since Irma's visit.
I really like praying mantis a very interesting looking animal. I didn't know about the pest control benefits, although doubt that would work in the UK foreign species and all. Might cause an invasion :)
Cool post! I'll definitely be following you. Have you ever caught a pregnant female?
When my pet's eggs hatched on my window ledge, I saw dozens of tiny mantises running in all directions. I caught most of them and released them in a nearby park where they had a better chance of surviving.