That thing about female praying mantises always eating the male was from a very bad lab study where the female mantises were basically starved before being exposed to a male. It turns out that things, when hungry, just love eating!
No it's just less likely if they are full. The reason is for nutrients for the offspring. Tarantulas are the same way usually the female will kill and eat the male. It's just if they are full sometimes they don't. Only sometimes even if they are full there is still a chance of them killing the mate. It's a guarantee source of nutrients the reason nature does it is because the success of the offspring is more important to keep the species going then to keep current ones alive as it takes 2 to make 100. This is not just with males even females will make the sacrifice like a mother spider letting her children eat her so they can have a strong start. Even a female octopus will wait right beside her eggs for years without food until they hatch then she dies from lack of nutrition. This is to help make sure the success of the offspring is high.
I will add to this as someone who actually raises Praying Mantis in captivity and breeds them (I raise wild caught nymphs to help survival rates of the native species and incubate the egg case to increase numbers of our native species, as in some places all you can find is the invasive Praying mantis now). Some species are more likely to eat their mate than others, on occasion we do observe even well fed females decapitate the male. We will often give the female a large item of food to occupy her during the mating process, and check up on them frequently (it can last a very long time, can’t watch them the whole time) may offer her more food if she finishes her original meal. Usually this works, but even if it doesn’t the males have evolved to finish the fertilizing the female. Males that survive the encounter may go on to mate a few more females if they are lucky, and if they survive all of their rendezvous they will still expire by the time morning comes. Even males who fail to find a partner in time will die, that’s just the unfortunate life of a male in the bug world. But still, to say that it is the fate of all male mantis to be eaten by his mate is just inaccurate.
@@KittinPyro thank you especially for your feedback and very particular experience. I'm just interested ; do you always feed the female when they're mating to have the survival of the male be better? Will the female actually just dump whatever she's eating and just go for the male by chance? What if the female has been fed very very well and is very satiated but given no food during the mating process. About the invasive species you are commenting on are there any special quirks to them that can be taken advantage of? Like there is a Chinese carp around the Great Lakes right now that tear up the whole bottom of rivers and lakes for breeding ruining the ecosystems and deprive all other species of the plankton and other microbes. The quirk they have is they will jump high out of the water when any noise, like an engine, disturbs the water . There was a video on this on this channel about it and it looked like people were trying all sorts of things but one was nets dragged on both sides of the boat with the opening only at the top so the only way to get in was if the fish jumped into it. The state I live in now reported sightings of the lanternfly a few years back and the only thing we can do is just crush them if we see them and nothing else.
I was attacked by a young mantis at work once. It was on a door frame and was knocked off when I opened it. As soon as the mantis hit the ground it came at me with its wings out an arms up. I tried to shoo it away with my foot and it just jumped on my boot and started climbing my pants leg. I tried to keep working but was worried that I would accidentally crush the little guy as he was making his epic climb so I put my hand out and it climbed on the back. After a few minutes of riding on my hand it started to calm down. The wings went down and it started looking around like it was interested in the view. I took it outside and almost push it off my hand because it didn't want to move.
I've raised a few mantis as a hobby (as well as ants, spiders, and other insects) and I've mated them and then raised the babies that were produced. I've successfully done this 3 times and all 3 times. The male made it. Only once the female tried to snatch the male but she missed and he got away so I immediately took him out of that cage and put him back in his own. The others stayed in the same cage until the next day because sometimes when they mate it takes hours before they detach. So I go to sleep and check them the next day. I currently have some juvenile asian jumping mantis, once they reach maturity I'm going to try them. Getting the timing right seems to be the trick.
I had a pet female praying mantis growing up. Because she lived in captivity she lived for 3+ years. She was a massive one. I put some males in her cage and she mated and ate them. When her babies hatched, they were so small they could easily escape the cage.... oh those poor babies getting vacuumed up by my mom still hurts my soul...
Yeah, the babies are tiny! I think that’s why breeders try to remove the egg sack before they hatch and put them in an escape-proof container. Same with spiders and scorpions. It can be funny to watch a breeder try to separate babies into individual containers to sell them. Frustrating for the breeder, I’m sure.
6:49 it’s odd that people would even consider the possibility that insects don’t feel pain. Of course they feel pain. How else would they avoid damage? They seem to also exhibit fear. Ants and many other bugs go into panic mode if you mess with them. They don’t just ignore you. They move sporadically and look clumsy.
They feel in a much different and far more simplistic way. It is all survival instincts for them as opposed to a conscious response. They do have some "thought" but are not capable of higher brain functions and complex emotions.
@@buckeyehockey1979 I agree. But I’d imagine pain and pleasure are simple emotions with simple and fundamental reactions. We have an equal stake in wanting to live. And an equal motivation to avoid pain and death. We can’t go in a bugs head, and experience their life, so we can’t know which animals experience consciousness at a high or low level. But it seems like a pretty safe bet to give insects a best guess of a low level of consciousness. Still, though I believe they have fear, and pain.
I had a 5" long mantis I had found in early May when it was walking in my 2nd floor kitchen window, I put her in a 20 gal aquarium with a screen lid I used for snakes, so it was a habitat, I put potted plants and 2 water features. I kept crickets for reptile food so she had plenty of food, yet she was in a constant hunter Killer mode. If I put 10 crickets in at 10:pm, by 8:am she would have hunted them down and chewed off all their heads. I actually tuned my night vision goggles for close proximity and watched her many nights. I had found a 2" male mantis on the rose bush in the back yard one day in august and put him in with her, after a couple weeks he finally got lucky and tagged a lil tail, if you know what I mean, and she ate his head off immediately. He kept humping her though and she wasn't interested in eating any more of him. When he had pumped himself dry he just fell off. When late September came round I put her back on the window sill where I found her thinking she would walk out but she turned around and came in the house and walked around for 3 weeks or so. Then one morning while I was having coffee she walked out the window, up the wall and was gone. Now what did I learn from the mantis,,,know your move, own it,,,be patient, sometimes slow is fast,,,strike with pinpoint accuracy with a finishing move,,,be merciless,,,the beauty of independent motion,,,if your on a mission, even if you are unavoidably detained, complete the mission,,,nature is merciless so you had best be ready for anything and everything, adapt, improvise and overcome,,,Semper Fidelis If female mantis were 2 feet long and bigger we would be on the menu I'm sure
When I lived in New Jersey I had vegetable and flower gardens. I bought 3 praying mantis egg cases and placed then around. They hatched and grew into big 5-inch long green mantises. Probably the entire neighborhood had them. One day, my husband saw one of them sitting on a fence post. He caught a grasshopper and offered it to the mantis which snatched it right out of his fingers. The thing about a mantis that gives me the creeps is how it turns its head and looks right at you with those cold eyes and you know if it was big enough it would eat you too. When they fly they look as big as a robin and their wings are loud.
When I was younger, I was going to eat with some friend at a local Mexican restaurant. After we got done eating, I noticed a a Mantis close to my car. I tried to push the little thing away from my car and next thing I know, it's chasing me around the parking lot. I sat still for a moment and it tried to crawl up my pants leg. I decided to get in my car and stay away from the little demon. Never messed with a mantis again because of the fear of getting beat up, lol.
Lol! We had one on the hand rail going to our (2nd floor) apartment, they were HUGE (one of the BIG green ones that have a leafy 'veined' pattern). There are some rowdy kids (from super young to teen) that hang around in the stairwell often, so I knew I needed to move it to prevent it from getting played with or killed (stepped on by accident, or getting squashed by someone afraid of it, which, given it's size, was highly likely). It was actually very chill... I went & got a big cup & a piece of paper, then just gently urged it in. It just...looked up at me with those eyes...I went to the front garden & released it in a bush, it just walked right out & went about it's business. I'm so glad it didn't go all attack mode on me, hilarious as that sounds. XD
I handle mantis all the time. They aren’t all the intelligent. If you hold your hand out and a bit above them, they will crawl onto your hand without issue and they will just chill on you.
Mantises can in fact hiss as a part of their threat display. The sound doesn’t come from their mouths, but rather from spiracles along their abdomen. So yes, they make scary sounds. Source: One of my ornery mantises, but you can also find it on RU-vid
I captured a female mantis and kept it in terrarium, feeding it insects from pool and later crickets. I set warmth lamp for her and she lived with me for a year, laying 4 oothecas (those egg sacks) before passing of old age. The first ootheca was actually fertilized and i had a bunch of mantis babies (only 1 survived and that one lived with me for another 1 year before dying of old age). So no, they actually dont die after laying eggs, if taken care of, and they lay empty eggs like hens if they have a plenty of food and good living
Been watching you guys for a couple years, now, and it just occurred to me I wasn't subscribed and should be. Always fun content here! While bugs aren't really my jam, it's fascinating to see how mantis' actually behave. Seeing some of the science that's used to determine certain aspects of their biology was my favorite part. Please keep those little nuggets coming!
@@67kemo The receipts are in the video description, and also common sense. You really think the video editors for this unofficial YT channel took all of this footage? Get real bro. There's a reason they want people reaching out to them regarding copyrighted footage instead of filing reports against them and giving their channel strikes. Multiple channels have been shut down recently after getting lawsuits filed against them. These fake science channels are in danger now, so they are doing everything they can to curb copyright complaints. It's really sad and pathetic
@@67kemo In general, if you see a copyright dispute email in the descriptions of a channel's videos, it's because they are stealing content. Simple as that.
I saw a brown praying mantis in the USA a few days ago. I thought it was cool. I don’t see them nearly as often as other bugs. Also I’m pretty sure y’all showed a clip of Mantis from Kung Fu Panda. I like that movie. Also I think there’s like 2,400 species of praying mantis. It’s interesting seeing ones from different places. You showed a white one and a blue one. I usually see green ones. Cool video.
Mantises are one of my favorite insects. I love seeing them prowl around my garden and fruit trees. A very beneficial insect for gardeners! 😁 Lady bugs are high on my list as well.
When I was a kid and I learned the word _bombardier,_ we were taught to pronounce it bom-ba-DEER. Now I hear people pronouncing it "bom-bar-dee-ay." You pronounced it like it's spelled.
About a year ago flying mantis somehow managed to get to my apartment on the 16th floor. He was just chilling near the window. He was a little defensive at first, but i slowly touched him with my finger and he was like: "Oh, ok". After a few minutes i gained his trust enough for him to climb on my hand and refuse to leave my house. It took surprisingly long time to convince him to leave, he was clinging like a little kid. Somehow every type of bird that lives here and every insect manages to find its way into my house. Not that i complain, it's actually pretty nice to have some interaction with them 🙂
Mantises are one of my very favorite insect to photograph! I find them fascinating! And its ironic that my very favorite of all are tarantulas, with which the males often become the after love snacks as well! Could this explain why I am forever single???🤔
I was minding my own business a few days ago and a mantis, out of nowhere, landed on top of my phone and a small toolcase i keep on my desk, looked like it was about 3 inches long or so. It climbed up my wall and just sat there, watching a video I had playing on my computer, I left to go back to work and when I got back home the mantis was gone, still have no idea how it got into the room in the first place
Speaking of hair worms, have you guys heard about '' Deranged ''? It is a South Korean horror film from 2012, about hair worms using people as their hosts.
I knew there was a reason why i loved ants. They just understand when its time to put a mantis out of business 4-5x their size. While simultaneously understanding when its "left over" night.
I raised Chinese mantids as a teenager, and learned allot about them. one of the caught a yellow jacket and wisely ate around the poison sac in their stinger.
I'm really glad you mentioned the invasive South African mantis that was introduced to my country; I became really interested in keeping mantises as pets several years ago and started researching them. I found that the species I was familiar with wasn't native and that during my life here (parents moved country a lot in my childhood and teens) I had actually never seen a native NZ mantis. I learned all about their different habits and characteristics; such as how SA mantids will hangout on the bottom side of leaves and natives on the top, how the shape of their thorax and neck are different, how the native one has a big purple blue patch on the inside of it's forelegs, etc and also what you mentioned: how native males are more attracted to the females of the invasive species and how the females are more likely to eat the natives than their own species. I'm disappointed to have never seen a native mantis but I still hold out hopw. Issue is that the native female's ooth hatches far fewer nymphs than the SA female, and they are everywhere! I see the SA mantids all the time. The oothecas also look quite different and so far I've only seen the invasive ones. They are often found on houses and in urban areas whereas the native ones are found in the bush.
Yeah, it can be hard to tell what kind of little species the egg sacks are unless you know what they look like and use a camera or magnifier to take a closer look.
I like how it says to get the worm out you can put the tips of the bottoms in the water, but the title of the video tells you to straight up drow mantises
1:35 "horizontal" polarization is probably not the best word to describe it since at normal incidence all light will have polarization parallel to the water-air boundary. You most likely mean "transverse electric" as opposed to "transverse magnetic" which are proper terms used in optics.
I still love that meme i saw years back where it says: "me and da bois" then it shows 6 different mantises doing their threat poses. shit is hilarious but damn awsome, Mantis' are fucking amazing insects
I listened to this whole dang video expecting to hear an experiment with a pitcher plant and a mantis. My dissapointment is immesurable, and my day is ruined.
Its crazy because this house i used to live in. So my backyard had no grass just all types of weeds that i dont even know the names of. Anyway...first year i lived there i wasn't there for several weeks in the summer and it didn't get mowed. So i came back mowed all the different weed grass,but left a whole lane by the fence that divided my neighbors yard. And let it grow and mowed the rest weekly or whatever...so a month later we got 100s , maybe 1000s of Mantis..big, small, green, dark brown ones. It was in Jersey, close to the shore. Whats crazy is i talked to multiple neighbors and asked if they had any..they said no. Ive only seen a few dozen over my life in NJ...so seeing all them in my backyard..it was weird to me. I wanna say there was a law in NJ that you couldn't kill them? Might be one of those Mandela Effect things though... 💯
Never seen a mantis eat its own limbs just for nutrients. It happens rarely if there's something wrong with the limb like a spreading disease. I did have one mantis that was crazy, something was defiantly wrong with it and it ate both its arms for no reason. But they cant grow back their limbs before the next molt. It depends on the species but even the ones with fast regen will take a couple molts to regrow a limb and the regorwn limb will usually be smaller. They only molt 6 or 7 times till adult so regrowing a limb is like a one time thing they can do. They wont just eat them if their hungry.
