Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The Praying Mantis

For some reason, my family has been thinking about praying mantises lately. First of all, we saw the movie Kung Fu Panda, which had a super fightin' kicking mantis. Later my brother wondered if we had any mantises in our southwest town. Then suddenly, a mantis appeared in Daddy's red wheelbarrow. I found it, so ten points for me!:) We ran out with the camera and took some pictures and then I started to get curious. Who was this holy little green guy in the wheelbarrow? Here's what I found out...

Praying Mantis is a carnivore. He likes to eat moths, grasshoppers, and flies. He may not be able to do karate, but he can nab his dinner with a quick flick of his front arms. Don't be tricked! He's not really praying-he's getting ready to kung fu his supper! Hi-Yah!

Praying Mantids are bigger than the mantises. They can be the size of a teacup. We found a big one at our old house.

Praying Mantises live for only about one year. In that year the female will lay an egg sac with over 100 baby mantises inside. Don't ask me to babysit!

Praying mantises have excellent vision. They can see up to sixty feet away. And I bet their moms don't even make them eat carrots.

The neatest thing about praying mantises is that they are really good at camouflage. Except in red wheel barrows. Don't ever try play hide and seek with a mantis; you'll lose for sure. For more information, check out National Geographic.

Coming Soon:
My week in Provo and a Puppety Surprise...:)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sailor,
Ewwww! I like your blog. I want to talk to you and your Momma. I want to drive, I'm getting bigger. Call me!
Annabelle

Prudy said...

Dear Annabelle:
Maybe you are getting bigger. You are so cute and it is EWWW. There were also two cockroaches in the wheelbarrow. We didn't take a picture of that. Love, Sailor

Prudy said...

Sailor:

I loved reading about the praying mantis. You also had funny things to say which made learning fun. I hope we can find some more. We could really use some prayers around here for our yard. I hope I can see your next post.
Love, Dad

Fantastic Mr. R said...

Reeve says:
Wow Sailor, that is so cool. Thanks for sharing all your science with us.
Ivy says:
I like bugs, too.
Sailor we learned a lot. Thanks for sharing this righteous insect with us :)

Prudy said...

Dear Sailor:
I've seen one of those before. Annaliese and I found one in the fountain at Grandma's house. I picked it up. Love, Eloise

Leslie said...

WoWA
i have never known that much of a praying mantis.
i can not wait for tommarow.
dont forget to bring your bathing suit.
we are goilng to have so much funnnnnn!

annie laurie