Tai Mountain Crushes Eggs 泰山壓卵

[crazedjustice88]

I'm not a mantis guy but the hop gar cup choi in our family comes straight down and I hit a friend of mine on the top of the head with his head gear on and we had to stop. It was a light strike but when you start compressing the spine, it gets dangerous haha he made me promise to never use that move in sparring again haha

[GeneChing]

I'm totally hijacking this xmas thread.

Fact Checks
Critter Country
Are Praying Mantis Eggs Commonly Found on Christmas Trees?
We'll say this: The praying mantis is not preying on humans in any way.
DAN EVON
PUBLISHED 11 DECEMBER 2019


Image via Getty Images/Stock photo

Claim
Praying mantis eggs are commonly found on Christmas trees.

Rating
Mixture
About this rating

What's True
Praying mantis egg cases have been found on occasion on Christmas trees.

What's False
However, this is not a common or dangerous problem. Christmas tree farms take precautions to prevent "harmless hitchhikers." By one estimate, only 1 in 100,000 Christmas trees has a post-harvest pest.

Origin
A photograph supposedly showing a praying mantis egg case on the limb of a Christmas tree is frequently shared on social media during the holiday season:



While this picture truly shows a praying mantis egg case on a Christmas tree (it was originally posted to Facebook in December 2017), social media posts and news articles about this potential pest problem may have given readers the false impression that this was a common or dangerous occurrence.

Chris Enroth, a horticulture educator at the University of Illinois Extension, writes that “these Christmas tree post-harvest pests (a reference to any insect, not just praying mantis eggs) are rare, occurring in 1 out of 100,000 cut trees.” Doug Hundley, a seasonal spokesperson for the National Christmas Tree Association, also told us that it is “very rare” to find a mantis egg case on a Christmas tree.

Hundley said that Christmas Tree Farms take precautions to reduce the chances of an insect (or “harmless hitchhiker”) from making its way from the farm to the home:

Most of these tree growers practice or utilize a pest management system called Integrated Pest Management or IPM.

IPM is utilized in most crops now. Christmas tree production began using it about 25 years ago. IPM practices are developed by University research and taught by Extension programs so the growers can successfully manage pest populations in a smart and environmentally friendly way.

Using IPM (farmers) scout their Christmas tree plantings regularly for pests that are interfering with the health of the trees and to prevent what we call post-harvest pests or harmless hitchhikers.

Although we’ve found a few old anecdotes about mantis eggs being found on Christmas trees (musician Taylor Swift was tasked with finding mantis eggs at her family Christmas tree farm in her childhood), this potential pest problem really started gaining news coverage in 2017. At the time, the pest control company Safer Brand was causing a stir by claiming that “as many as 25,000 bugs can live in one tree.”

Entomologists quickly shot down this claim. Adam Dale, assistant professor for entomology at University of Florida (UF), told MyNews13: “You are not going to have thousands of bugs in your Christmas trees.”

Susan Haddock, an agent in pest management for the UF Agricultural Extension, added:

“In over nine years of experience with [the UF Agricultural] Extension, I have never had a client inquiry or problem brought to my attention regarding a serious problem, or even a minor problem, related to insects on Christmas trees.”

While there have been a few incidents over the years of people finding mantis eggs on their Christmas trees, this is not a widespread or dangerous problem.

[GeneChing]

There's a vid. Maybe one of these is fake news.

Office Christmas tree leads to praying mantis infestation
POSTED 11:28 AM, DECEMBER 27, 2019, BY WGNO WEB DESK, UPDATED AT 11:34AM, DECEMBER 27, 2019

NEW ORLEANS - George Bevan just wanted to add a little holiday cheer to his office, but he ended up with a praying mantis infestation courtesy of his Christmas tree.

Bevan set up the tiny tree, which stood about three feet tall, on a counter in his office at the Audubon Nature Institute, where he works as an EMT.

On December 26, Bevan was in his office when he started to notice small insects crawling around.

“I was heating up some food and noticed several of these critters crawling around on our call log sheet,” Bevan said. “I asked my supervisor to come take a look at it and that’s when we realized hundreds were crawling all over the tree and the walls.”

Praying mantises are known to lay eggs in a variety of trees, some of which are commonly used for Christmas trees.

Under the right conditions, praying mantis babies will hatch and emerge from their egg sacs just in time for the holidays.

“I had no idea that this was a thing since I’ve always had an artificial tree in my house,” Bevan said.

Fortunately for the little critters, Bevan works for the Audubon Nature Institute, so he knew exactly who to call to safely remove the infestation without having to resort to insecticide.

“After calling around to figure out the best way to remove them, we were able to get some animal staff employees to come and help,” he said.

Two Audubon Zoo employees who work in the Louisiana Swamp exhibit soon arrived and painstakingly began collecting the bugs in jars.

“There were unfortunately a handful that did not make it, but most of the mantises were relocated,” Bevans said.

The baby praying mantises were sent to the Audubon Insectarium, a happy ending to one of the most unlikely stories to come out of this Christmas season.

All I know is that I'm super tempted to get one of those mantis egg sacks at the local plant nursery and release it here at the office.