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Exploring the Wonderful World of Mantises [w/ pics]

soothbrush.com — Mantises, Mantes, Mantids or whatever term you prefer to use for their plural form, are among the most fascinating and at the same time scariest insects in the world.The 2,300 species of praying mantises comprise an order of insects called Mantodea.

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  • cl2yp71c, on 07/25/2008, -2/+25Interestingly beautiful insects.
    I simply love their simple yet complex form, decorated with the piquant color schemes.

    They look like they directly came out of a scifi flick.(or vice-versa)
    • Homerr, on 07/25/2008, -2/+1The only bug that I think should not be killed with fire.
    • jellyfishes, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2They definitely have an otherworldly appearance... especially the ones with elaborate camouflage.
    • Snufflesaur, on 07/25/2008, -3/+1Simple yet complex? Why do people insist on using these tired cliches. What does that even mean? I don't see what's so simple about it.
    • themastersb, on 07/26/2008, -0/+3They have some pretty kinky sex.
    • crazycraka, on 07/26/2008, -2/+1I remember I killed one of these once.. They maybe be Holy but they're prayers cant stop my foot.

      BTW I killed it because it scared the ***** out of me, it was blocking my doorway, so it was either him or me...
  • jennagen, on 07/25/2008, -3/+11absolutely gorgeous
  • alexanEmpire, on 07/25/2008, -5/+12This is most wonderful article that has been posted on digg all year. Thank you, TalSiach.
  • Thrilltone, on 07/25/2008, -2/+8Extraordinary creatures
    Lightning fast and stunningly beautiful
  • B00Radley, on 07/25/2008, -2/+9Very cool.
  • Frogee, on 07/25/2008, -4/+11Definitely the most beautiful of all insects, that's for ***** sure.
  • AndrewKC6, on 07/25/2008, -2/+23Wow awesome! beautiful but scary as ***** at the same time... Imagine on of those things the size of a horse?
    • plimpton777, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Dozens of people have reported smoking DMT and seeing huge praying mantis-like intelligent beings communicating with them.
      That would definitely freak me the frak out.
    • msweet153, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I remember my grandmother had this Godzilla vs The Sea Monster video I used to watch like every other day when I was a kid. He actually had to battle giant praying mantis's. Obviously, he had his way with them.
      • unAntimatter, on 07/27/2008, -0/+0Did the preying mantis rid off Godzilla's head while he was copulating with her?
  • mamut, on 07/25/2008, -2/+5Absolutely amazing!!!
  • mdlyn26, on 07/25/2008, -3/+4Interesting story...
  • PabloMac, on 07/25/2008, -5/+12Beautiful and truly fascinating, but "...the cruel female eats the male..."

    Can we stop trying to attach human characteristics to non-human life forms?
    • krnldmp, on 07/25/2008, -3/+3Where the hell do you get anything human out of that phrase.
      • cricketsymphony, on 07/25/2008, -0/+10cruel
        the actions of an insect are never motivated by kindness or cruelty
      • Exact0, on 07/25/2008, -1/+0*Whoooooosh*

    • PabloMac, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Thank you, cricketsymphony. You're a very perceptive and intelligent insect.
  • Cottrell36thAIR, on 07/25/2008, -2/+1The last ones smile is just adorable
  • fluidfoundation, on 07/25/2008, -3/+1Mantes.
  • karadotc0m, on 07/25/2008, -1/+0these pics are awesome.
  • Ollin, on 07/25/2008, -2/+5There is so much choppin potential in those pictures.
  • tykwondingo, on 07/25/2008, -1/+5someone shoop a "FTW!!1!" on the first pic
  • drex8, on 07/25/2008, -8/+4Whoa! A whole lot of gay comments.
    • cricketsymphony, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2yes, the comments prefer their own gender. that makes perfect sense, dumbass.
  • Hoogs, on 07/25/2008, -0/+14One day after school, I saw a praying mantis in my garage. I watched as it slowly approached a yellowjacket and, once close enough, lash out and grab the thing with its forelegs. I then stared in amazement as it proceeded to tear at the now helpless insect, first removing the head and then slowly consuming the body while holding it to its mouth. That's still one of the coolest things in nature I've ever seen.
  • kianat, on 07/25/2008, -1/+9I liked the cannibalistic comic:
    http://tinyurl.com/6mcus8
  • glui2001, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I want a Mantis now!
  • seraph582, on 07/25/2008, -0/+11Jesus christ! The title briefly sent a cold shiver down my spine! I thought it said "Mantisies" as in "Man Fantisies"

    ugh!
    • tykwondingo, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6Why don't you have a seat over there...
  • holyskeleton, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2who knows how many horror films have been inspired by this.
  • AThoughtOrTwo, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Beautiful. They SEEM coldly calculating and utterly foreign to us humans in every way...

    Unlike spiders, the eat the head first - which to humans means the 'prey' may suffer less. I don't know if that is true - but at least mantids don't spin those horrible webs that I keep running into during a night walk.
  • deathfix, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Which one shall I set as the background on my sister's computer to freak her out?
  • GalacticXenu, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3You can buy praying mantises online.

    I raised Orchid mantises as pets. They're pink and evolved to blend in on orchid flowers. Google them if you want to see them, they're really beautiful and fascinating bugs.
  • tomazws, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Beautiful photographs... Their stance does look a bit intimidating, I guess these creatures are what some Chinese kung fu are based on..
  • spen949, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Awesome photos. Although I can't see a Mantis without thinking of Half Life 2 and wishing I had a gravity gun.
  • wsuvtx, on 07/25/2008, -4/+2How is this news?
    • Exact0, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2It's not news fool. It's a fascinating article. Are you new here?
  • plimpton777, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Did you know...?

    ...praying mantis beings are often seen, and communicated with, by those who smoke/injest the psychedelic DMT?

    http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sou ...
  • r00db0y, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3Great photos. These insects are great - fascinating to watch and great entertainment to feed.

    We live in central CA and every year we catch a young mantis and keep in a terariam as a pet for the summer. The kids (9 & 3 yrs old) love watching them. We all have to catch food (other bugs for them) and sometimes when the bugs get scarce - we get feeder crickets from the pet store to feed our pet mantis.

    My 9 yr old daughter did a big 3rd grade project on mantids this year and as part of the project we spent a weekend building a 3.5 ft paper mache model of a mantis - got 50/50 pts on that.

    For an experiment at a BBQ last year, we had a LG black widow spider and a full grown mantis that we put into a cage together - people were split on who they thought would win. No contest. Bees, wasps, it dont matter - these things a real hunters.

    Thanks for the DIGG - brings up lots of good memories for me.
    • bizzarojamey, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Mantises are cool, but check out www.japanesebugfights.com, mantis gets totally pwned by a centipede
      • Leetamus, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0holy crap that's a really funny site lol thanks
      • r00db0y, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Dood - that site is great - thx 4 the link. I wish I could speak Japanese so I would know the names of some of the combatants. Or better yet, if they would do an English overdub like they do on that wacky "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" they have on the Spike channel.
      • Cloud7654, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Lol, "Round the 1th"
  • shaXian, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I love mantises. There are ten or so in a tree out back and they will take crickets from my hands. So full of win.
  • BigBoomBob, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5Not as good in the bug arenas as this article might lead you to believe.
    http://gladiatorbugs.com/
  • jellyfishes, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2If I had to be an insect... mantis for sure
  • trashymac, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0404 Psycho Mantis not found. It's the best of the bunch.
  • Tyrghast, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Oh hell yes, mantis porn!
  • dogatemypron, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5For those who watched the video clip:

    WTF? I'm not sure if I got this right or not but it looks like the female and male were mating *spoiler* then the female attacked the male, ate the head and part of the leg, and then the male (headless and part legless) re-mounted the female and continued to do the dirty... HEADLESS????
    • christilovett, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1He also tried escaping as well (with no head). Crazy stuff.
    • AngelBunny, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1it is pretty bad ass isn't it?
  • 0xbaadf00d, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Watching a mantis catch and eat something is amazing. The mantis doesn't even try to kill the insect, it just starts munching at whichever part is closest to its mouth. If it starts at the back, the insect will usually live till it gets to the head... brutal.
  • openyoureyes17, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I have a phobia of praying mantises :( I hate when they grace the front of digg, especially now that there are thumbnails :*(
  • frozensnake, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1WOW. no wonder solid snake had such a hard time
  • digg1520, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2crazy bitches
  • slothchunk, on 07/25/2008, -2/+1i swear almost all of these comments are from dummy accounts set up by the submitter.
    there's no way "very cool" should have 9 diggs.
  • Leetamus, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0I used to have a pet mantis, as funny as it sounds it was the best pet i've had. It lived in a terrarium with no top and would come hang out on my monitor while i worked, then go back to the terrarium at night. It would even come out on the deck riding my shoulder. It had consistent responses to people too. Some people it liked others it would avoid to no end. There was one friend of mine, every time he came over the mantis would try to leap on to his face lol.. if i didn't own a cat i would get one right away.
  • wittermang, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0When I first glanced at the headline, I thought it read "Exploring the Wonderful World of Man *****"
  • onionlayer, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Spac ...
    • deviationer, on 07/26/2008, -1/+1Pour gas on it

      BISCUIT!
      .....
      ....
      BISCUIT!!!!!!
      .....
      ...
      BISCUIT!!!!!!
  • serif69, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I am the lone locust of the apocalypse. Think of me when you look to the night sky.
  • Nubhole, on 07/25/2008, -2/+0The correct pronounciation is mantisii
  • tchynerd, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Very cool but those things are badasses as well. For example they have been known to kill snakes (the larger varities of mantis that is). I would not want to fight a human sized mantis.
  • timberspine, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0mirror?
  • pileofstraw, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3i'd hit her.
  • uthallan, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1When I was in school, in the planting club, we would release hundreds of mantis babies to eat bad ***** in the garden. There were so many! We would be covered by 'em.
  • mozert, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Now I understand what it means Professional Photography.
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