30 Amusing Pics Of Mantises

[left-of-center2012]

Photographer Captures Amusing Pics Of Stunning Mantises, And Here Are 30 Of The Best Ones

Wildlife photographer Pang Way shoots a lot from up close. Mostly, little critters that don't normally catch our attention and that are so small, we walk right past them without even noticing them.

A big and important part of Way's work is mantises or praying mantises like people like to call them. They got this name for their prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer.







Full article and photos at:
https://www.boredpanda.com/beautiful-mantis-photography-pang-way/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Newsletter

[flamin lib]

1. Thanks for posting this. These pictures and the creatures in them are

AWESOME! I wish I knew how she got them to open their wings like that. Perhaps it's a defensive posture, trying to look big?

[Hoyt]

2. Just made the last one my wallpaper. Cool.

[LakeArenal]

3. Gosh. Stunning.

[UpInArms]

4. So cool!

Thank you for sharing!

[Alliepoo]

5. Fabulous photos!

I’ve always liked these creatures til they started stalking my Monarch butterfly caterpillars! Found a couple of these critters in my milkweed and had to evict them!

[catchnrelease]

8. One of the most horrifying things!

I have a few plots of milkweed for the Monarchs, and even used to keep them in 'tents' while they were caterpillars until butterflies and release. One of the plants was next to a sage and once when looking for cats I noticed a big one was on the sage...but it was in the clutches of a big mantis! I was horrified! It was pinched in the grasp and I didn't know what to do. I figured it was already too late to save it, so should I leave it for the mantis to eat? Should I try to get it away in case it might live? But if it won't live, then it would be totally wasted! Aaaahhh! After a minute of debate I walked away and didn't look back. Nature is not kind. That was several years ago and I still hate thinking of that.

[csziggy]

10. Nature is not kind at all

Outside our old house we had planted crepe myrtles, which grew huge - they are now about forty feet tall. When they got big, I would hang thistle socks - mesh bags full of thistle seed - for the goldfinches to eat. One day when looking at the socks to see if they needed to be refilled, I realized one of the branches was extra fat. A gray rat snake was lying along the branch with its head just above one of the thistle socks. As I watched a gold finch landed on the sock, the snake struck, grabbed the bird by its head, wrapped itself around the bird, and began squeezing it.

I was not about the argue with a very large rat snake over its dinner and by the time I could have gotten out there with any kind of weapon and protect, the bird would have been dead anyway. I did grab my camera and take pictures of the snake swallowing the bird.

The next time I saw the snake I was ready. I rigged up a broomstick with a noose at the end and had a burlap feed sack ready. I caught the snake, stuffed it in the bag and carried it miles and miles down the road where I let it loose on one of the plantations.

Two days later I saw a rat snake in the crepe myrtle, a much smaller red one, maybe the bigger one's mate. I decided that snake catching was not going to be a new hobby so I stopped hanging the thistle socks where it was so convenient for the snakes to catch the birds.

We still have rat snakes - just the other day some of the guys working on the house found what they called a corn snake - that is just another color variation on rat snakes around here, sort of yellowish. But I no longer entice the birds into their reach.

[catchnrelease]

11. Wow, smart snakes!

I guess that's why they can survive--taking advantage of a set up like that. But it is tough on us humans that want to help them all. I appreciate that you released the snake and didn't just kill it. It has it's purpose too. (But I would have been upset about the bird getting munched. I know full well that it's life, but still...)

[csziggy]

12. Snakes have their roles

When we were building our first barn, I was concerned about mice and rats since there was a very bad infestation of rats here originally. One day I was at a friend's barn and saw a bunch of small, recently hatched rat snakes. I grabbed a handful, put them in a drink cup and slapped the cap on it. I let them loose in the barn and we had a healthy population of rat snakes - but few rats and mice - after that.

That year we were overrun with the goldfinches. I'd put sunflower seeds out on the deck rail and they would cover the rail, solid with little yellow birds. losing one to a smart rat snake was not a big loss in the overall scheme of things.

[Alliepoo]

13. I'm watching one of my cats right now

Hanging in “J” from the top of the mesh butterfly house. Should be forming a chrysalis before long. (I bring them in, too!) One of the other cats has chosen to get up close and personal and I’m afraid it will interfere with the process. Kinda like your mantis/cat situation-last year a cat was in the process of splitting its skin to form its chrysalis and another cat crawled right on it. Poor thing struggled to get it off with no success and I couldn’t do much. Tried to shoo mean cat off with a soft little paintbrush to no avail. Had to just watch little “J” hang half in half out. I took it down and euthanized it so it wouldn’t suffer. It’s a helpless feeling. I have been pretty lucky thru the past few years in not losing more than a couple of caterpillars. It’s a fun and educational experience for me and the grands. Hopefully we’re helping to restore the Monarch population. Your caterpillar was part of the circle of life-at least it was food for something else and not a waste. Mother Nature in all of her beauty and wonder can be so ugly sometimes, can’t she?

[catchnrelease]

14. It can be so frustrating!

For quite a few years I would collect the Monarch caterpillars and release the butterflies. I might release as many as 20+ in late Winter. But a couple years back I started having problems with the Tachinid Flies, the parasitic ones. At first I couldn't figure out why the cats kept dying before they got to chrysalis stage. Eventually figured out it was the parasites. So I would collect the cats at ever smaller sizes. But even some of the really small ones would be 'infected'. Some would make it, but it was so sickening to see the others wither and the damned fly larvae come out. I know there are protocols that people follow to collect the Monarch eggs and start that early. Even soaking the leaves with eggs in a bleach solution to kill disease spores. But I'm sadly not that dedicated. If I see a cat I will put it in the tent and hope for the best. I do think the Monarch population here (SoCal) has decreased in the same time frame that the T flies have increased. May be one of those 'correlation is not causation' things, but I did notice a definite decrease in butterflies. I know there are a lot of problems with Monarchs making it in general.

[Martin Eden]

6. Wow. I didn't know the Mantis has such an exotic variety!

Thanks for sharing.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Check out the Orchid Mantis ...

https://www.google.com/search?q=orchid+mantis&client=ubuntu&hs=9ij&channel=fs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG0fnZ653rAhWPwFkKHS_tCTMQ_AUoAXoECCAQAw&biw=1242&bih=848

[KS Toronado]

9. I like the mike pence eyeballs on the first one.