I’m BACK!!
So sorry for the long delay…research really took an upswing and grad school has been kicking my butt! However, I wanted to ramp my blog back up to keep on sharing fun science facts/stories with you all! Today I’m doing a short highlight on one of my favorite insects — the praying mantis!
I’m sure you’ve all seen one at least once in your life — they’re very menacing looking and have folded front limbs that make it look like they are praying — hence, the name! I’m focusing specifically on “Flower Mantises” today, which have developed camouflage that makes them look like flowers. This is called an adaptation. Over evolutionary time, those individuals that blended in better with their environment (in this case, flowers) were better at capturing food, thus increasing their chances of surviving. They passed on their genes to the next generation which eventually created these beauties! As you can see, their limbs and body look like the petals of flowers, allowing them to blend in and be “invisible.” Pretty cool, huh? Some days I wish I could just blend in with my environment…then maybe I’d get some more writing done! 😉
Another fun fact about praying mantises…the females actually bite the heads of the males prior to mating, and then once the act is complete, they consume the rest of him. Talk about a bad date!
Let me know if you have any requests of topics you’d like me to cover! As you can see, I am not restricted to just mangroves — I love ALL things science! 🙂