What Are You Praying For? With a Ghost Praying Mantis
Updated: Dec 30, 2020
ME: Okay. I admit it. For a ghost, you're gorgeous. Tell me, what are you praying for?
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: I'm not a ghost.
ME: And you're not praying either?
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: No, I am praying. For a live hummingbird.
ME: Why a LIVE hummingbird?
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: We eat them. Make a hole in its head and suck out its brain.
ME: You're a GHOUL! With a fancy high hairdo! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: I'm one with nature. I follow my nature. THAT is my nature.
ME: NO! I LOVE hummingbirds. Stop eating hummingbirds! Eat something else!
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: Fine. Fine. I'll eat my boyfriend instead.
ME: Cool. Wait. What?
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: Yes.
ME: You don't like your boyfriend?
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: I like him very much. I LOVE him. He is THE one.
ME: Does he know you're planning to eat him? Have you told him? Won't he mind?
GHOST PRAYING MANTIS: If I eat his head, Sherlock, how is he going to be able to mind?
It's true: Praying mantises have front legs bent and at an angle that seems to suggest that they are at prayer. These are terrifying predators, with two large compound eyes and three simpler eyes between those two compound eyes. In addition, that head CAN swerve - cool 180 degrees. The legs have sharp spikes, so when they skewer their victims, it's impossible for the poor creatures to escape. Most of the time (90%) they will be still, camouflaging like above, to wait for their prey to come to them. They do eat hummingbirds' brains. They also eat their mates - the male praying mantis - if not always, a large number of times.
