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Scutigera — Angry Praying Mantis
Published: 2008-07-24 21:30:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 1858; Favourites: 28; Downloads: 10
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Description
One day, this large female mantis decided to hang out on the window just outside the entrance to my college dorm. She attracted quite a lot of attention. I wiggled my finger in front of her to see how she would react, and surprisingly she flared her wings, bared her mandibles, and raised her arms as though she felt threatened. Seeing an opportunity, I took some pictures of her warning display before she eventually decided I wasn't scary anymore.To make up for pestering her, I later escorted her through the Biology department where I fed her some crickets and showed her off to fellow Biology students and professors. Afterward I put her back on the window. She left some time in the early evening; I can only hope she successfully found a mate and reproduced.
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Comments: 15
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Wonderful picture 
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Wow, I love this one. There are a lot of shots of mantids done with the super duper macro lenses, but this one has more personality. I caught a mantis on the trunk of my car a few weeks ago. He/she is still alive, although I'm unsure of the exact species of mantis. I hope it ends up looking like this one. She's only an inch and 1/3 long, so her mandibles aren't this large yet... some day.
Anyway, Great shot! The light bouncing off the eyes is great.
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She looks so sweet. I have a friend who raises mantises, an although I still can't really touch them or be near them much, I do appreciate their charms and beauty.
This gal is a BIG one though. Sadly, if se was slow enough to let you catch her and have your way with her, she's probably very old, but the good thing is she had a full, lovely life full of eating mates and making babies.
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I never knew insects could be so expressive! I love praying mantises(unsure of the plural term for mantis).
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I think the correct plural is either mantises or mantids.
Mantises seem to be among the most expressive of all insects, partly because of the way they can turn their heads to face whatever has their attention.
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Imagine her huge and breaking through your bedroom ceiling with that expression.... ABOVE YOUR BED.
Gawd, you'r so lucky! I caught loads of mantids in Japan, and I never got one to do the threat posture on me. Even big "queens" like her.
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The anger of tiny things is *adorable*...you captured a great moment!
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She's not evil--just easily provoked. XD
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