Praying mantis look like innocent and friendly creatures due to their praying positions, but they are aggressive predators, and you have to handle them carefully.
Why Are Praying Mantis So Aggressive? Praying mantis are so aggressive due to their quick strike rates, nature of eating their babies, and killing mating partners. They are good at attacking bigger prey and eating them alive, which seems cruel. Budwing mantis is the most aggressive species of praying mantis, and they can pose harm to humans.
You do not have to worry about attacks from praying mantis despite their predatory nature because they will not harm you until you do not pose any threat to them.
They attack insects, animals, and even insects of the same species and humans, but they get adapted to humans when kept in captivity.
What makes praying mantis so aggressive?
The praying mantis seems pretty dangerous due to their predatory nature and cruel actions against prey because they have incredible hunting skills.
However, you can find them becoming aggressive in some particular situations when they do not feel comfortable and detect threats in their surroundings.
Quick attacks or strikes
They prefer to camouflage within vegetation or plants in the background and remain hidden until they find prey at a close distance. They are ambush predators and attack prey quickly.
Moreover, they have swift movements and pounce upon their prey, providing no time to react against attacks. Prey animals find them as hostile attackers as they get no chance to hit back.
They have extraordinary strike rates as they can reach roaming flies on the plant in less than a second, even faster than the blink of an eye.
In addition, it is not easy for a seized animal to get freedom from their firm grip because they are known to capture prey using raptorial legs.
They are even more deadly than your imagination as they are good at adjusting the strike rate according to the distance from their prey and are perceived to be destructive for them.
Eat preys alive
They do not wait for prey to die. They can eat them alive or even reject the dead insects as a food source if they are present around them.
It seems astonishing how insects could be so deadly without having venom glands. They rely on their in-built weapons or mouthparts having sharp mandibles.
Moreover, these mandibles play a role in tearing the organisms and cutting their bodies into chunks that their mouth can easily swallow.
Praying mantis capture the prey from the mouth using their legs because the spines are so sharp and fine that it is difficult for them to escape from their trap.
Accordingly, they start eating their bodies from limbs and move to abdominal regions that are squeezed with the help of legs like a tube. The seized organism can die due to extreme pain.
Their bodies get devoured by these carnivorous insects as they can consume a smaller insect like a bee within a few minutes, but larger organisms like young snakes and lizards take more time.
Kill mating partners
Praying mantis are also dangerous for their partners, as sexual cannibalism is common in these insects when they try to kill mates during mating.
Both male and female praying mantis can kill their partners, but preferably, females kill male mates as their bodies can provide nutrition to them.
In addition, it is observed that females can produce more healthy eggs if they cannibalize males and decapitate them during or after mating.
This killing behavior can occur due to other reasons like mates’ fitness issues because she does not allow an unfit male to claim paternity of the new generation.
They can also fight when the males unexpectedly mount on their partners, but she is not willing to mate, so she tries to kick them off or kill them.
Eat own babies
Praying mantis usually become hostile and apathetic towards their babies and eat them. It happens when they have no other choices for food and consume their babies to get nutrition.
Moreover, the nymphs do not get a chance to become mature adults and are killed by their parents, which seems to be a brutal action as parents are supposed to provide protection.
The predatory nature of these insects is also prominent in the nymphs, as they can eat siblings to avoid starvation when they do not find any prey.
Sense of solidarity
Naturally, they have a sense of solidarity and fight independently for survival. Every insect can combat opponents alone without calling fellows for help.
Accordingly, they attack other animals or insects to ensure their safety because they can be killed for their docile nature.
They have developed defensive strategies to kill their enemies and keep themselves safe from undesired attacks and increase their lifespan.
Moreover, it does not mean that no predators have the potential to deal with these deadly insects due to their aggressive nature, as some organisms have the courage to fight and kill them.
Capture bigger preys
The praying mantis have the courage to deal with the bigger prey, around 2 to 3 times larger than their bodies, and devour them.
It is only possible due to their aggressive nature towards prey animals, as they do not show any sympathy while brutally seizing their prey and killing them alive.
Some people consider them savage because they target bigger prey and poisonous organisms like snakes and lizards, even without a stinger or venomous bodies.
What type of praying mantis is more aggressive?
There are more than 2000 species of praying mantis on the planet, but a few are considered more aggressive than others due to body size or hunting skills.
Budwing mantis or Parasphendale affinis is considered one of the most brutal species, which is also kept in captivity due to its unique appearance and behavior.
This is common in East Africa but introduced in Europe and US by people. They have an earthy-colored body with some darker spots and appear brownish or beige.
Moreover, the females are known to be more savage or voracious than males because she chases the prey animals without fear of being attacked.
You can find them in a threatening posture or a praying position after detecting the threat or even prey in the environment. They spread wings to their fullest to frighten the predator.
In addition, they cannot live together within the same enclosure due to their voracious nature as they begin to eat each other after some time due to their hostile nature.
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