Praying Mantis

One animal I never get tired of looking at is the praying mantis. I saw a TV show on them once that continues to haunt me. These things are killing machines! They will eat anything, and I mean anything, so long as the size ratio works in their favor. They are lightning fast, have powerful jaws, and are not noticeably encumbered by conscience. Most people know that the female will eat the male after mating; did you also know that she'll snack on him while mating? And that it doesn't affect his performance? I watched a mantis grab and eat a *hummingbird*, for heaven's sake. The other thing is that there are more species of mantises than I ever dreamed, many of which are designed for specific plants. There is an orchid mantis, for example, that is simply undetectable when sitting on its plant, much to the misfortune of whoever comes along to pollinate it. It's been said before, I know, but we should all thank our lucky stars that insect exoskeleton limitations keep them small, because we would be toast otherwise.

This particular mantis is up on our roof garden, which may account for the non-existent pest problem up there. On the other hand, our plants are withering from some sort of nasty blight or soil problem, so maybe its just that the pests can't be bothered.