preying mantis kills humming bird

[monkeyfoot]

WOW i thought that this deserved a thread of its own. A preying mantis caught a humming bird whilst hanging from its rear legs. The pictures are absolutly awesome. What a great insect/style. Im seriously thinking about getting one, I really want an orchid mantid.

enjoy
craig

ps: dont just keep the thread to this, if you have any pictures of mantids or artwork based on the insect/style then post em up.

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/si...irdwireJul2005

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Amazing... the mantis impaled and killed the flying hummingbird with one strike!

CSP

[K.Brazier]

Thanks Monkey foot.

"As you can see from the photographs this hungry mantis captured and killed a hummingbird not much smaller than itself.* The mantis used its spiny left foreleg to impale the hummingbird through the chest while leaving his right leg free."

This is exactly how I fight. Hold him with my left and hit him with my right. I us ually use my left hand for feng shou-sealing hand, but I can see how just impaling the enemy through the chest would substitute that.

Kevin
BTW, My plane for Tampa leaves tomorrow.

[mantid1]

Have a safe trip

[monkeyfoot]

"As you can see from the photographs this hungry mantis captured and killed a hummingbird not much smaller than itself.* The mantis used its spiny left foreleg to impale the hummingbird through the chest while leaving his right leg free."

Yes. This tactic reminds me exactly of the beginning of the fourth road in 'black tiger cross'. The use of a double intercepting hand shot straight into a finger strike. Hand grasping is really useful in controlling I find.

glad you liked it
Craig

[German Bai Lung]

Sorry folks, but I got some Mantids here at my home and I study the little animals.
I am sure they can not "impale" some other animals with their forearms!
They have tiny, very sensitive parts at the end of the Forearms (to feel and to climb with them). Sure they get injured when trying to impale something.

The forearms are for catching. The rest (hurting and killing) do Mantids with their mouth! They eat their victims alive.
I read in a book that their was a mantid who ate a frog and the frog was crying for several hours in pain ....

[monkeyfoot]

Its okay GBL you haven't ****ed on my bonfire...

Im still thinking those pictures look pretty acurate, the picture in this case shows a forearm in the bird.....hence why I posted it.

What species do you have, new zeland mantis (green'ish etc) or a more exotic one (leaf mantis or orchid mantis). What are they like to look after? What sort of food? Living space? Etc
I really want to keep one

craig

[Ou Ji]

There are many different types of mantids. I understand the asian varities are very aggressive.

[yu shan]

This is kind of off topic but interesting... for me anyway.

Awhile back had to relocate a mantis from the backyard to my front porch. She was having to fight off my dachsunds every time I let them out. She has taken refuge in a large potted schefflera tree. The temperature is going to drop to 20 tonight so the tropicals have to be brought in. Guess who is coming in for a visit?

[German Bai Lung]

I got two Hierodula Membranacea (male and female). They are really big and living in india, china etc.

They are really aggressive: catching everything thats moving and not bigger in size than themselves!
Most of the time I give them grasshoppers, the big ones from Egypt.
But also they like the big moths! They catch the victims real fast and begin to eat at the same time! If the victim is wild they start eating the head. Keeps them cool real fast!

The female I got in a big flower in my living room. The male is in a glass terrarium. They can´t be in the same place, cuz the female would catch and eat the male!

[BeiTangLang]

Sorry folks, but I got some Mantids here at my home and I study the little animals.
I am sure they can not "impale" some other animals with their forearms!
They have tiny, very sensitive parts at the end of the Forearms (to feel and to climb with them). Sure they get injured when trying to impale something.

The forearms are for catching. The rest (hurting and killing) do Mantids with their mouth! They eat their victims alive.
I read in a book that their was a mantid who ate a frog and the frog was crying for several hours in pain ....

Well,..I gotta disagree with you. The tiny "arms" at the ends of the "fore-arms" fold flat-back against the "fore-arms" leaving a rather nasty "spike" exposed at the end of it. Maybe not all of them do/have this, but the one I had as a pet used her "spike" on larger prey similar to the humming-bird image to impale them.

[-N-]

My classmate sent me a mantis egg case several years ago. I kept it in a 10 gallon aquarium until it hatched and a few hundred baby mantises came out.

The mantises all fought among themselves and ate the losers until there were only like 6 big badass mantises left. Very cool.

Interesting to see the fights. They would attack and grab, unbalance the other one and keep it from getting its base, then go for the neck and head for the kill.

N.

[German Bai Lung]

Well,..I gotta disagree with you. The tiny "arms" at the ends of the "fore-arms" fold flat-back against the "fore-arms" leaving a rather nasty "spike" exposed at the end of it. Maybe not all of them do/have this, but the one I had as a pet used her "spike" on larger prey similar to the humming-bird image to impale them.

Never come across a Mantis like this! The one on the Picture doesn´t look like either!

Some more pics with the detail of the forearm:

[monkeyfoot]

Jochen

Could you give me some information about keeping the mantid.

1) What sort or environment should you keep them in and how big?
2) What temperatures do you need to maintain
3) What and what not food to feed them
4) How many times to feed them and how much
5) How many times to clean their area
6) What do you do about them growing wings and needing to fly
7) What do you do for water - or is this taken in when eating prey

Thankyou

Craig

[German Bai Lung]

Craig,

there are many many different Mantids. Everyone got his own preferences. So its best to get a book. I´m sure there are enough in english language to cover the different mantids and the way to keep them!