11 Comments
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S. Uckun's avatar

Birds eye view. Thank you.

SHIMIZU Akira's avatar

Birds? Ah, I see, the eyes of a predator, right?

Mandi L Abrahams's avatar

Ah, Glasshopper, reminds me of 70s TV ! Gorgeous, I have taken countless pictures of butterflies but never managed one like that. What camera were you using?

SHIMIZU Akira's avatar

They run away when I get too close, so I often take pictures from a little distance away using a telephoto lens.

Mandi L Abrahams's avatar

They do, good advice!

Jim🧯🇰🇼🌲's avatar

I once had a praying mantis land on my shoulder while I was riding my bike home (nearly crashed).

She was really friendly and stayed in my place. Eventually she laid an egg-case on a curtain, then our brief affair was over; she got really bitchy, then flew off, probably to die.

In the spring they hatched, and I had about a hundred tiny mantises in my place, managed to only squish a few I think. Then they left to go to Mantis School.

SHIMIZU Akira's avatar

I imagined praying mantis eggs laid on the curtains in my house. Oh, I can see the outcome. They're cute but also nightmarish. (>_<)

Jim🧯🇰🇼🌲's avatar

I’ve always really liked cicadas, katydids and especially praying mantises, felt honored when one landed on me and decided to look at me for a while. They make definite eye contact. There seems to be a lot more awareness there than one would expect from their miniscule brain.

SHIMIZU Akira's avatar

I certainly feel that praying mantises are different from other insects. They don't fly away immediately when humans approach, but instead observe us and appear to be in deep thought. Sometimes they raise their upper bodies in a fighting pose as if to intimidate us, or they dance, swaying their bodies back and forth.

Jim🧯🇰🇼🌲's avatar

Yes, exactly. They seem to act with definite intent. That one who rode me to my house, then laid her eggs inside, seemed to very decidedly know what she was doing. Her eggs were protected, and probably a lot more made it to viability than in ths wild.