Mantis
April 23, 2007 5:18 PM Subscribe
Mantis... will make you smile and maybe dance. A one link Flickr post...things around the world may suck right now....but this little guy will make you smile and dance..we need that once in a while! via
This post was deleted for the following reason: this is a one link post to a photo of a bug. A funny bug but really.... -- jessamyn
wtf, bob?
posted by frecklefaerie at 5:24 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by frecklefaerie at 5:24 PM on April 23, 2007
I'm neither smiling nor dancing. But I love that mantis. Mantis is just allright with me.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:35 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:35 PM on April 23, 2007
Mantis looks like he his conducting. Or else maybe like he is a puppeteer. Dance, puppets! Dance for the amusement of your insect master!
posted by moss at 5:52 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by moss at 5:52 PM on April 23, 2007
Dancing? That dude is summoning something. *hides*
posted by furiousthought at 5:53 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by furiousthought at 5:53 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Very cool! We had mantids all over the neighborhood when I was a kid- I'd find their ghostly little exoskeletons hanging from branches in the shrubbery "cave" in our backyard.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:04 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by oneirodynia at 6:04 PM on April 23, 2007
It's so cute, in that "I would devour you if given the chance" sort of way.
How long till somebody silhouettes it and puts an iPod in its claws?
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:06 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
How long till somebody silhouettes it and puts an iPod in its claws?
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:06 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Mantis is the Greek word for prophet.
In Hebrew, a praying mantis is called "gamal shlomo", or Solomon's Camel.
Either way, the little creature is spooky and magical!
posted by Araucaria at 6:16 PM on April 23, 2007
In Hebrew, a praying mantis is called "gamal shlomo", or Solomon's Camel.
Either way, the little creature is spooky and magical!
posted by Araucaria at 6:16 PM on April 23, 2007
Has anybody posted a link to a single word yet? That would be awesome.
posted by 2sheets at 6:19 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by 2sheets at 6:19 PM on April 23, 2007
That's one of those Old Testament Fire & Brimstone 'HALLELUJAH BROTHERS & SISTERS' style Praying Mantises.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:22 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:22 PM on April 23, 2007
I have a totally irrational fear of mantises, but that's just awesome.
posted by dhammond at 6:23 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by dhammond at 6:23 PM on April 23, 2007
I've got seven egg-sacks that were laid by a couple girls I rescued last summer, I can't wait for them to hatch!
Ummm... so let's all read that sentence over again out of context. Shall we?
posted by miss lynnster at 6:24 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Ummm... so let's all read that sentence over again out of context. Shall we?
posted by miss lynnster at 6:24 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Has anybody posted a link to a single word yet?
Single word.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:24 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Single word.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:24 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
Reminds me of this playa (image is SFW but the rest of the stuff on the page is NSFW - you make the call)
posted by redteam at 6:29 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by redteam at 6:29 PM on April 23, 2007
What happened to the M, C, and A bugs?
posted by CKmtl at 6:38 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by CKmtl at 6:38 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite]
What a delightful image! Made me grin ear to ear. It's such a fun photograph with the California suburban street scene as a backdrop. I like Lawraa's other images too. She has a tender eye.
My favorite bug photographer is Igor Siwanawicz, posted here by madamjujujive.
posted by nickyskye at 7:02 PM on April 23, 2007
My favorite bug photographer is Igor Siwanawicz, posted here by madamjujujive.
posted by nickyskye at 7:02 PM on April 23, 2007
I just spoke to our resident mantid expert, and apparently mantids do a lot of that sort of arm waving, but it's unclear what the function of this movement is. It's not courtship, because they do it infrequently, and they even do the arm waving thing when there's no other mantid around. My blue-sky hypothesis is that it's some sort of visual calibration, or maybe even release of pheromone, but it could just as well be something banal, like exercise. Or dancing :)
posted by dhruva at 7:32 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by dhruva at 7:32 PM on April 23, 2007
I dunno. I find it strangely disturbing. Maybe because I'm pretty sure it's not that happy.
posted by paladin at 7:50 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by paladin at 7:50 PM on April 23, 2007
Wait until you see one of the really big ones. I saw one a little over a foot high (I used my shoe to measure it), menacing a terrier. It did the arm-waving thing, too.
posted by adipocere at 8:19 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by adipocere at 8:19 PM on April 23, 2007
In mantid lingo looks like it might be making a threat?
posted by nickyskye at 8:20 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by nickyskye at 8:20 PM on April 23, 2007
That's gotta be a defensive-threatening display for sure. Not only do the upraised arms make the mantis look bigger, but that false eye thingy on its tail is a classic defensive device used by many critters.
Anybody who's seen a mantis hunting would recognise that it's not the kind of gesture that they use to attack prey, when they adopt the eponymous praying gesture before lashing out suddenly with their long bristly forearms.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:42 PM on April 23, 2007
Anybody who's seen a mantis hunting would recognise that it's not the kind of gesture that they use to attack prey, when they adopt the eponymous praying gesture before lashing out suddenly with their long bristly forearms.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:42 PM on April 23, 2007
Yes but then why would they make this gesture in the lab under no provocation whatsoever? Nevertheless, the defensive threat thing may well be the answer.
posted by dhruva at 9:12 PM on April 23, 2007
posted by dhruva at 9:12 PM on April 23, 2007
F*CK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the name of all that is holy, PLEASE put a "NSFPWAPOBPOTMV" sticker on it!
*not safe for people who are phobic of bugs, particularly of the mantid variety*
Creepiest. Creature. EVER!
posted by davidmsc at 9:20 PM on April 23, 2007
*not safe for people who are phobic of bugs, particularly of the mantid variety*
Creepiest. Creature. EVER!
posted by davidmsc at 9:20 PM on April 23, 2007
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I've got seven egg-sacks that were laid by a couple girls I rescued last summer, I can't wait for them to hatch!
posted by lekvar at 5:24 PM on April 23, 2007