If they do land on you; you may touch their backs, but NOT their heads. Their necks are VERY fragile, and even the gentlest touch to the head will snap the neck, and the head will fall off.

I had this happen when I was a kid. It was shocking and creepy, because the body didn't die right away, it kept moving. For some reason; during the mating ritual(s), the female will eat the head of the male, and the body will continue to "PERFORM" until sex is done. Again, shocking, and creepy.

Is that unique to this type of mantis, or does that apply
to all of them? I've never touched the head of one of
the types of mantis we have here. I've just never thought
about doing so, nor have I ever had a reason to.

Intriguing little creature...

---

rOZZ
Music
Pictures

If they do land on you; you may touch their backs, but NOT their heads. Their necks are VERY fragile, and even the gentlest touch to the head will snap the neck, and the head will fall off.

I had this happen when I was a kid. It was shocking and creepy, because the body didn't die right away, it kept moving. For some reason; during the mating ritual(s), the female will eat the head of the male, and the body will continue to "PERFORM" until sex is done. Again, shocking, and creepy.

Is that unique to this type of mantis, or does that apply
to all of them? I've never touched the head of one of
the types of mantis we have here. I've just never thought
about doing so, nor have I ever had a reason to.

---

~Sue~

If they do land on you; you may touch their backs, but NOT their heads. Their necks are VERY fragile, and even the gentlest touch to the head will snap the neck, and the head will fall off.

I had this happen when I was a kid. It was shocking and creepy, because the body didn't die right away, it kept moving. For some reason; during the mating ritual(s), the female will eat the head of the male, and the body will continue to "PERFORM" until sex is done. Again, shocking, and creepy.

Fortunately Scott, I have never experienced either of those scenarios :)

One of the only creatures I know that can take on a wasp and win - (not just this African flower mantis variety - but all praying mantis's or is it manti?)





they're super curious and not bothered whether it's your shoulder or your nose they land on :)

If they do land on you; you may touch their backs, but NOT their heads. Their necks are VERY fragile, and even the gentlest touch to the head will snap the neck, and the head will fall off.

I had this happen when I was a kid. It was shocking and creepy, because the body didn't die right away, it kept moving. For some reason; during the mating ritual(s), the female will eat the head of the male, and the body will continue to "PERFORM" until sex is done. Again, shocking, and creepy.

---

TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

One of the only creatures I know that can take on a wasp and win - (not just this African flower mantis variety - but all praying mantis's or is it manti?)





they're super curious and not bothered whether it's your shoulder or your nose they land on :)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, in one part there are lots of bugs or fortune cookies, at least until someone sheds a little light on the subject...

And finds out he is eating monkey brain EEEEEK! ;)

Can I just get some soup?

<soup is delivered, eyeballs float to the top>
<she faints>

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, in one part there are lots of bugs or fortune cookies, at least until someone sheds a little light on the subject...

And finds out he is eating monkey brain EEEEEK! ;)

---

rOZZ
Music
Pictures

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, in one part there are lots of bugs or fortune cookies, at least until someone sheds a little light on the subject...

---

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You would definitely feel a bite from that!

Now here is something ya don't see all the time, the Louisiana Mosquito... ;)

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~Sue~

I'm afraid most of us "westerners," though, would never be very comfortable
eating bugs.

Disguised, you might think they were... prawns... maybe? :)

Someone would surely go to prison for disguising bugs as prawns!
(Unless they were very rich and could bribe our politicians.)

---

~Sue~

Now here is something ya don't see all the time, the Louisiana Mosquito... ;)

Vic, that thing has got to go :)

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Now here is something ya don't see all the time, the Louisiana Mosquito... ;)

---

My Amazon Wishlist
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I hate bugs :(

I am a serial bug killer :)

Talking about cereal bugs :) the invention of the tupperware party did put a stop to the regular gruesome occurrence of pouring milk onto my rice krispies each morning and waiting for the weevils to abandon ship.

I find one bug in my cereal and the whole box goes out the door. Yuck.

I'm afraid I have to agree with you, Dave.

:) don't blame any of you - but growing up in Africa, bugs were very much part and parcel of every minute of every day, and were often a source of protein to indigenous tribes. I had my first taste of fried locusts when I was four, and they were really tasty. My mother would've probably freaked out, but we had a village on part of our property, and I spent hours there playing with the village children and helping with things like crushing grains and seeds and fetching water and clay and dung for sealing walls etc. They were so kind to share what little they had with me and my sister. In retrospect, I wish I had not accepted their generosity, not because of what it was they were offering, but because it reduced what they had for themselves.

I suppose you were too young to think of it at the time, but you could
have taken something to share with them. Unless, of course, your parents
would have objected.

I wish I had thought of it, but I was young. I don't think my parents would've objected though others would have done. When my mother helped nurse one of the women in the village and her baby, both of whom had contracted smallpox, it was seriously disapproved of by many in their social circle. What makes me sad too is that at some point after we left that property, the land was turned into an airport serving Kitwe, and the village and its people were displaced.

There are plenty of people/groups who are trying to get more of us to
eat insects due to nutritional content and their availability. For example,
every 17 years, when the 17-year cicadas come out, the local newspapers
and TV news broadcasts will invariably publish articles about eating the
cicadas, along with recipes. And there are often people on TV shows
trying to show us how bugs can be eaten. All of them say the bugs are
tasty.

I'm afraid most of us "westerners," though, would never be very comfortable
eating bugs.

Disguised, you might think they were... prawns... maybe? :)

I hate bugs :(

I am a serial bug killer :)

Talking about cereal bugs :) the invention of the tupperware party did put a stop to the regular gruesome occurrence of pouring milk onto my rice krispies each morning and waiting for the weevils to abandon ship.

I find one bug in my cereal and the whole box goes out the door. Yuck.

I'm afraid I have to agree with you, Dave.

:) don't blame any of you - but growing up in Africa, bugs were very much part and parcel of every minute of every day, and were often a source of protein to indigenous tribes. I had my first taste of fried locusts when I was four, and they were really tasty. My mother would've probably freaked out, but we had a village on part of our property, and I spent hours there playing with the village children and helping with things like crushing grains and seeds and fetching water and clay and dung for sealing walls etc. They were so kind to share what little they had with me and my sister. In retrospect, I wish I had not accepted their generosity, not because of what it was they were offering, but because it reduced what they had for themselves.

I suppose you were too young to think of it at the time, but you could
have taken something to share with them. Unless, of course, your parents
would have objected.

There are plenty of people/groups who are trying to get more of us to
eat insects due to nutritional content and their availability. For example,
every 17 years, when the 17-year cicadas come out, the local newspapers
and TV news broadcasts will invariably publish articles about eating the
cicadas, along with recipes. And there are often people on TV shows
trying to show us how bugs can be eaten. All of them say the bugs are
tasty.

I'm afraid most of us "westerners," though, would never be very comfortable
eating bugs.

---

~Sue~

I hate bugs :(

I am a serial bug killer :)

Talking about cereal bugs :) the invention of the tupperware party did put a stop to the regular gruesome occurrence of pouring milk onto my rice krispies each morning and waiting for the weevils to abandon ship.

I find one bug in my cereal and the whole box goes out the door. Yuck.

I'm afraid I have to agree with you, Dave.

:) don't blame any of you - but growing up in Africa, bugs were very much part and parcel of every minute of every day, and were often a source of protein to indigenous tribes. I had my first taste of fried locusts when I was four, and they were really tasty. My mother would've probably freaked out, but we had a village on part of our property, and I spent hours there playing with the village children and helping with things like crushing grains and seeds and fetching water and clay and dung for sealing walls etc. They were so kind to share what little they had with me and my sister. In retrospect, I wish I had not accepted their generosity, not because of what it was they were offering, but because it reduced what they had for themselves.

This is the closest Dragonfly to what I saw recently.

The 'visitor' I had twice looked a lot like that Vic, only the body was bigger.

You must have been 'buzzed' by a Super Fortress then.

---

My Amazon Wishlist
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This is the closest Dragonfly to what I saw recently.

The 'visitor' I had twice looked a lot like that Vic, only the body was bigger.

---

rOZZ
Music
Pictures

I hate bugs :(

I am a serial bug killer :)

Talking about cereal bugs :) the invention of the tupperware party did put a stop to the regular gruesome occurrence of pouring milk onto my rice krispies each morning and waiting for the weevils to abandon ship.

I find one bug in my cereal and the whole box goes out the door. Yuck.

I'm afraid I have to agree with you, Dave.

---

~Sue~

Try to live in a town where they put down
sour gas wells..... Lucky for us all the
ones around here are sweet gas. Every year
Alberta has one or two deaths due to H2S.....

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Oxygen is toxic to obligately anaerobic organisms, which were the dominant form of early life on Earth until O2 began to accumulate in the atmosphere. Free elemental O2 only began to accumulate in the atmosphere about 2.5 billion years ago.

Oxygen event

Hydrogen Sulfide is hazardous to Oxygen breathers, the wiki says its poisonous...

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My Amazon Wishlist
The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's