orchid praying mantis

There are many insects in the world. Probably no one knows about everyone, even a professional entomologist. But among them there are those who can easily defend the title of the most beautiful. Beautiful insects? Of course, colorful butterflies immediately come to mind. But there are other beauties in the world of insects. For example, mantises. What do we know about them? Very little, and very little, about how beautiful they are.

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1. We know that they love to fold their front paws as if they are praying to God, and also that they are great at pretending to be all sorts of sticks and leaves.

2. Moreover, in this art of mimicry, they reached the highest, almost unattainable heights.

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4. Do you know that there are praying mantises in the world that can pretend to be flowers? And not simple, but flowers of orchids, jasmine, papaya and other flowering trees - of different colors and shades.

5. Orchid praying mantises differ from their more famous counterparts primarily in color.

6. They are white, pink, lilac - different shades, sometimes they have several different colors and combinations in color. It depends, of course, on the flowers of those trees on which these insects live.

7. And these gentle-looking beauties live in Malaysia and Thailand, in the warm and very humid rain forests of South Asia.

8. Of course, the coloring was given to praying mantises not at all for beauty, but for the convenience of hunting and protection from enemies.

9. Their wide paws imitate flower petals, and their heads imitate their core.

10. They deftly jump, but move slowly and fitfully, like alien tripods from old science fiction films.

11. This type of praying mantis has large gender differences - females, reaching 8 cm in length, are almost twice the size of males.

12. Praying mantises eat pollinating insects, which is why they occupied this particular niche of mimicry - they pretend that they crave pollination and grab everyone who flies to this color call: bees, butterflies, dragonflies, flies.

13. But these insects do not close the circle of their appetite! Praying mantises are so strong, and their jaws are so powerful, that they can attack lizards with great success, even including those that are much larger than their size.

14. Also, orchid mantises may well have a bite to eat and small pieces of bananas or other sweet fruits rich in potassium.

15. In rare cases, the female praying mantis may well dine with the male, but this happens in the most extreme cases, when the female is very hungry. But wise nature also took this into account - more males are born than females and their maturation period is shorter than that of females.

16. Orchid mantises are kept at home. This is not very difficult, you just need to know the main thing about this type of praying mantis - during periods of molting, they need very high humidity.

17. They have such a paw structure that it is extremely difficult for them to get rid of the old “skin” if it does not get wet from moisture.

18. If a praying mantis is kept for a long time surrounded by flowers of the same color, then with each next molt they will acquire a color more and more similar to the color of these particular flowers.

19. Praying mantises are brave insects and enter the fight, protecting their lives - they can bite or pinch painfully.

20. In the wild, they have many enemies. These are large lizards, geckos, bats, rodents such as shrews, toads, birds and even large spiders.