A Touch of Stealth

Against an uncamouflaged background, this mantis soaks in the sun.

Pretty-looking things are not always what they seem to be:  In this case, nature’s innocent-looking praying mantis fits the bill.
 
With a long and slender body, twig-like legs, a triangular head that can rotate 180° with its two large compound eyes; the beguiling appearance of this bug-eating little monster is very deceptive to humans
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The mantis gets its name from the way that it can place its forelegs together in a mock-praying position.  Even its formal name, Mantis Religiosa, attests to that.
 
But the mantis does not pray.  Au contraire, it preys, and it is very good at it.  When the mantis assumes its professed “praying” stance, it remains perfectly still, with no movements at all for what can amount to tens of minutes at a time, shifting its posture ever slightly to a different stealth position so that it can strike out, hold, and disable its target.

I’ve seen praying mantises regularly over the years in the garden, often camouflaged on a leaf of one of the butterfly bushes, waiting patiently.  Several years ago, on a warm mid-summer day I was outside hoping to capture photos of opportunity with my Nikon D7000.

That’s when I first became acquainted with a green one sitting perfectly still on a slender leaf, waiting for its prey.  It wasn’t until a year or two later that I came upon one of them that had seized a Monarch butterfly and was eating it headfirst – ugh!!  I captured that scene, but never published it.

It was only about ten days ago, when Pris spotted another mantis clearly outlined against the bright yellow mums near the front steps.  It appeared simply to be seeking the warmth of the sun on a late summer day.

Prompted by what might be the last chance of 2014 to digitize the mantis on camera against an appealing background, I briskly stepped outdoors with another camera and positioned myself a mere couple of feet away with a close-up lens setting.

Seemingly annoyed,  the same mantis says "go away."

Recommendation:  Don’t try that if you haven’t disabled the autofocus-assist beam of your camera.  Even in the best of lighting conditions, it will sometimes activate – that mantis did not like that, little did I know.  No harm, though, but this normally motionless mantis became agitated, moving its eyes straight towards the camera lens and flew straight into it, as though it were something to eat.

Startled, I swatted the carnivore away, and it flew up against the house siding, then onto the windowsill of a front window where it continued to seek comfort in the radiated heat of that surface.  Those critters can really move – and they don’t like focusing beams directed at them!

If you look closely at the two photos in this post, you can observe that a mantis is superbly designed to support its task as a predator.  If you click on this link, you will see one of them in action against a helplessly surprised hummingbird.
 
That is not a pleasant sight to come across, but then to a mantis, there are no humanly inspired values, just a programmed instinct in its little brain to eat whatever it can capture. 
 
And I thought that they are just cute little things!  Stealth is everywhere.

Thanks for reading, and take care of yourselves.

(Click on any image for an enhanced view.)