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February 2, 2017 10:39 PM Subscribe
Enjoy this massive GIF of an interaction between a cat and a praying mantis. Now watch the original video in which the praying mantis kills the cameraman [FAKE]. Source: reddit. (h/t Miss Cellania)
I didn't want to see the cat be hurt, but, OTOH, I didn't want to see the mantis be so amazingly ineffective.
(In fact, I wonder if that was Don King recording it.)
posted by Samizdata at 11:09 PM on February 2, 2017
(In fact, I wonder if that was Don King recording it.)
posted by Samizdata at 11:09 PM on February 2, 2017
SWEEP THE LEG
posted by not_on_display at 11:37 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by not_on_display at 11:37 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Insects get little respect - if it was the cat being tormented in this manner by a much larger predator, there would be a justifiable uproar.
posted by fairmettle at 4:10 AM on February 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by fairmettle at 4:10 AM on February 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
The day after he moved in, when just a 12-week-old-kitten, Eddy defended me from a praying mantis who got into the house. Good kitty!
posted by MrGuilt at 5:24 AM on February 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by MrGuilt at 5:24 AM on February 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
I love giant mantises. My parents have an elaborate real-estate-tax dodge acre of raspberry plants growing in the yard behind the house where I grew up. My father, a man of some few peculiarities of temperament, got it into his head that they would be more appealing if they could describe themselves as an organic farm, despite the fact that they don't actually sell the berries, they just invite all their friends over to take away as many berries as they can carry. To handle the swarm of Japanese beetles that descended on the plants, dad discovered that you can mail-order entire pods of praying mantis eggs, which will then hatch and deal with your extant beetle population. The instructions said to order a pod for every half acre; dad order two dozen. Which is how the entire back yard, and indeed most of the neighborhood, came to be inhabited with more mantises per square foot than one might think possible of an ecosystem. They're absolutely fearless. I've watched one drive a spider larger than itself out of its own web. We once found the (50-pound, fully-grown) collie dog cornered by two of them, waggling their forelegs menacingly. One of them stalked my 3-year-old across the back yard, though it wasn't clear who was menacing whom.
Anyway, mantises are incredibly good camouflage artists, so you tend not to notice that one is there when you're picking raspberries until it boops your hand, just like this guy. They're harmless to humans, but look like belligerent armored pugilists threatening fisticuffs. So, I like to invite people over and not tell them about the local fauna, then watch their reaction when they're accosted by a 6-inch-long arthropod with what looks at first glance like giant pincers on its front legs.
posted by Mayor West at 5:36 AM on February 3, 2017 [37 favorites]
Anyway, mantises are incredibly good camouflage artists, so you tend not to notice that one is there when you're picking raspberries until it boops your hand, just like this guy. They're harmless to humans, but look like belligerent armored pugilists threatening fisticuffs. So, I like to invite people over and not tell them about the local fauna, then watch their reaction when they're accosted by a 6-inch-long arthropod with what looks at first glance like giant pincers on its front legs.
posted by Mayor West at 5:36 AM on February 3, 2017 [37 favorites]
Sounds like a case for (and of) wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes!
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 6:49 AM on February 3, 2017
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 6:49 AM on February 3, 2017
Which is how the entire back yard, and indeed most of the neighborhood, came to be inhabited with more mantises per square foot than one might think possible of an ecosystem.
There are many ways to waste money inappropriately, but this is not one of them.
posted by endotoxin at 7:23 AM on February 3, 2017 [8 favorites]
There are many ways to waste money inappropriately, but this is not one of them.
posted by endotoxin at 7:23 AM on February 3, 2017 [8 favorites]
I keep looking at that GIF wondering why the cat doesn't just eat it. Does it think the praying mantis is a live toy or something?
posted by fuse theorem at 8:25 AM on February 3, 2017
posted by fuse theorem at 8:25 AM on February 3, 2017
We once found the (50-pound, fully-grown) collie dog cornered by two of them, waggling their forelegs menacingly.
This would be me too.
posted by Flashman at 9:40 AM on February 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
This would be me too.
posted by Flashman at 9:40 AM on February 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
It really does look like the mantis kills the cameraman at the end.
posted by queensissy at 10:55 AM on February 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by queensissy at 10:55 AM on February 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
I got in an awkward situation with a landlord once where I didn't want to cut the weeds in my backyard because it was basically the Free State of Mantisland and I did so love watching them. They'd snatch a honeybee off a flower and just chow down on it like a Kashi bar all casual while the bee furiously struggled
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:09 AM on February 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:09 AM on February 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
Does it think the praying mantis is a live toy or something?
Thats how my older cat is. He loves to "play" with bugs, but has no interest in eating them. They're just very interesting toys. (And so sometimes, for example, I will find a poor cricket missing half his limbs or something but not yet out of his misery after the cat got bored).
My younger cat will put just about anything she finds in her mouth, however, so she usually ends up eating them (which seems better, all things considered, from the bug's perspective).
posted by thefoxgod at 12:01 PM on February 3, 2017
Thats how my older cat is. He loves to "play" with bugs, but has no interest in eating them. They're just very interesting toys. (And so sometimes, for example, I will find a poor cricket missing half his limbs or something but not yet out of his misery after the cat got bored).
My younger cat will put just about anything she finds in her mouth, however, so she usually ends up eating them (which seems better, all things considered, from the bug's perspective).
posted by thefoxgod at 12:01 PM on February 3, 2017
Does it think the praying mantis is a live toy or something?
(the mantis survives with attitude intact)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:26 PM on February 3, 2017
(the mantis survives with attitude intact)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:26 PM on February 3, 2017
Is it weird that almost every time I load the blue I quickly scan for Johnny Wallflower FPPs before I read anything else? Thank you for your delightfully absurd contributions to this place, you're like a bastion of whimsy in what can sometimes feel like a sea of despondence. Basically what I'm trying to say is that you're good people, JW. Good people indeed! Carry on with your shenanigans, please!
posted by bologna on wry at 2:55 PM on February 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by bologna on wry at 2:55 PM on February 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
Ah, the praying mantis, the state insect of Connecticut.
(thanks, 4th grade)
posted by batter_my_heart at 6:21 AM on February 4, 2017
(thanks, 4th grade)
posted by batter_my_heart at 6:21 AM on February 4, 2017
My cat persists in eating every bug or lizard she catches. Except she has a delicate stomach so then throws up lizard eyes, and bug parts.
Boop wars are much more civilised.
posted by geek anachronism at 4:38 PM on February 5, 2017
Boop wars are much more civilised.
posted by geek anachronism at 4:38 PM on February 5, 2017
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posted by Going To Maine at 10:57 PM on February 2, 2017