Praying Mantis 1, Hummingbird 0

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2005-08-17 01:59am

Man, don't fuck with a praying mantis

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-08-17 02:30am

That's fucking insane.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-08-17 02:32am

Holy crap. I didn't know they ate birds.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-08-17 02:33am

Bob the Praying Mantis God of Upper May strikes again!

The sacrifices to his Holiness must continue.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-08-17 02:41am

SWEET! We should have a steel cage match. 1000 Praying mantises vs 1 Bald Eagle. GO!

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2005-08-17 02:46am

How about 1 red shirt versus his weight in praying mantises?

Seriously, though, those buggers'll eat anything they can get their grubby little claws on.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-08-17 03:05am

We love it when they choose to nest around our pool, especially my mom, and especially since she (taking into account that she's allergic to wasps) saw one plop it's praying mantis ass down and pick off wasps as they passed.

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2005-08-17 03:22am

I fucking love praying mantises

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2005-08-17 03:25am

I'd get one as a pet if I weren't afraid of it biting my hand off.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-08-17 03:32am

They're endangered any way, arent they?

Erik von Nein · Post by **Erik von Nein** » 2005-08-17 03:33am

darthdavid wrote:They're endangered any way, arent they?

There is apparently over 2,000 species so a few of them must be.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2005-08-17 06:30am

I always did find these guys to be amazing killing machines. I love the general design of them too, it looks menacing even before it does anything.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2005-08-17 06:44am

Praying Mantis' are the single greatest thing nature has ever conceived. Everything about them speaks of power and precision. They can also turn their heads which is damn cool.

Just watching a mantis move is fun, it's like watching Miyamoto Musashi in insect form going about his business. Seeing this mantis take down a humming bird is just amazing (although I do quite like the humming bird. Fast wings).

There was a mantis up at my Dad's place in south east Queensland that I quite enjoyed watching. It fought one of our cats valiantly, but in the end I had to get rid of the cat (it was a big cat), for fear that The Mantis (similiar to The Minotaur from God of War, but different) might be killed and eaten.

Ave mantis.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2005-08-17 08:01am

Although birds, especially small ones, aren't known for their solid skeletal structure or dense musculature, that's still one hell of a precision strike and display of strength for the mantis to have stabbed it clean through, held onto it as it died, and then suspended its weight with one leg.

Neko_Oni · Post by **Neko_Oni** » 2005-08-17 07:12pm

I find it highly amusing that the rest of the page has adverts about books for hummingbird lovers.

felineki · Post by **felineki** » 2005-08-17 07:18pm

Neko_Oni wrote:I find it highly amusing that the rest of the page has adverts about books for hummingbird lovers.

Well, the page is part of a birdwatching site...

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/ ... mingbirds/mantis-hummer.aspx?sc=birdwireJul2005

Interesting pictures. I knew mantises were tough lil SOBs, but I had no ides they could catch hummingbirds. Amazing little critters, one of my favorite insects.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2005-08-17 07:50pm

The only think a Praying Manthis will not attack is ants.

I saw one try to pick a fight with a garden snake once.

The snake was not impressed, but the Mantis eventually gave up.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2005-08-17 09:00pm

No insect really takes on ants, not even arachnids. A single ant is a cakewalk (usually), but an army can quite easily defeat anything short of large rodents, and even then it's not so easy. Quantity is a quality all of its own (especially with a hive mind mentality and efficiency mindset as with ants).

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2005-08-17 09:00pm

To me, the only insect more worthy than the praying mantis is the dragonfly, but I wouldn't bet on the dragonfly in a fight between the two... mantids come in a huge variety of sizes, so of course victory isn't assured, either.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2005-08-17 10:48pm

One thing Praying Mantises cannot handle are turtles. I once fed a medium-sized live Mantis to a turtle. The ensuing fight was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-08-18 12:16am

Joe wrote:One thing Praying Mantises cannot handle are turtles. I once fed a medium-sized live Mantis to a turtle. The ensuing fight was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Since some species are endangered that probably violates the "No talking about illegal stuff you've done" rule.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2005-08-18 12:18am

Depends on the species of Praying Mantis, and the location.

The field near my house when I was a pre-teen was literally swarming with Praying Mantis's at once time. To the point I took a 5 minute walk with a bucket once and came back with 15 - 20 of them.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2005-08-18 12:22am

I decided that the mantis versus hummingbird pictures on that site would make very good "owned!" pics. Especially since it's so true.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2005-08-18 12:23am

I can't say I'm entirely surprised. Mantises are some bad ass predators.

You know what else are predators? Frogs. People think they're cute but they will eat ANYTHING they can swallow. Fish, birds, snakes, mice... They're actually pretty mean.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2005-08-18 12:29am

Since some species are endangered that probably violates the "No talking about illegal stuff you've done" rule.

Out of 2,000 species precisely 1 is "low risk". None are endangered.