Praying Mantis

Mantises have a number of enemies, particularly birds. In order to discourage them, large mantises will strike out with their spiny forelegs. Other species, not large enough to frighten an enemy in this way, seek to discourage an aggressor by suddenly exposing brightly colored wings, which often have false eye-spots to give the impression of a frighteningly aggressive face. Such tactics are only necessary when the mantis has actually been seen. The first line of defense is to avoid detection at all. Most mantises are therefore well camouflaged for its survival, to avoid been eaten by birds. Grass-dwellers tend to be green, and tree-dwellers are often mottled brown.

After mating, the female lays, her eggs in batches enclosed in a tough, spongy envelope called an ootheca. The ootheca is attached to fence posts, twigs, stems, or sometimes buried in the ground. The females of some species of mantis stand guard over their eggs until the young emerge. They fend off attacks by parasitic wasps which lay their eggs in the eggs of the mantis. The eggs hatch 3 weeks to 6 months after being laid. The young emerge from the eggs through tiny holes in the ootheca. Many species of mantises resemble ants when they are small, but as they go through a series of molts (shed their skin), they begin to look more like a adult mantises.