Praying mantis seen hunting for fish in wild for first time

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/praying-mantis-eats-fish-discovered-india-a8548981.html

by HillaryBriss • 8 years ago

104 57 8 years ago

independent.co.uk

tfha• 8 years ago

Maybe first time in the wild, bit we've known they eat fish for a long time. The above is a video of one catching and eating a fish, posted to YouTube 10 years ago.

charmides• 8 years ago

Disturbing that it does not kill its prey first.

codetrotter• 8 years ago

Insects tend to be like that; they just start eating.

brahmwg2• 8 years ago

Often though they tend to target the head or neck for their first bites, I think with the intent that biting there will make the meal stop struggling[1]. Not all the time though, sometimes they grab the prey and just start chowing down, butt first :P

[1] I had an African flower mantis as a pet ;)

tomcooks• 8 years ago

It's not like it had sex with it before or anything /s

qubax• 8 years ago

It's a lot more common in the wild than one thinks. Lions, tigers, wild dogs, alligators, fish, sharks, baboons, birds, hyenas, worms, bears, etc all eat animals that are still alive from time to time. Animals want to conserve as much enery as they can. As long as the prey is debilitated or not attracting other bigger predators, they'll eat it even if it is alive. Nature is really brutal when you get down to it.

random42_• 8 years ago

Yes, and it is noted in the article: Praying mantises have occasionally been observed to feed on vertebrates, including small birds, lizards, frogs, newts, mice, snakes and turtles.

But many of these cases have either not been scientifically validated or have occurred under human-manipulated circumstances. And there is no previous scientific data of mantises preying on fish.

DoofusOfDeath• 8 years ago

I don't understand what they mean for it to be "scientifically observed".

another-cuppa• 8 years ago

Why doesn't the fish wriggle? The fish looks much stronger than the insect.

crtasm• 8 years ago

What's the idiom... Like being nudged towards eating fish in a barrel.

I'm fascinated by the choice of soundtrack on this video.

bsilvereagle• 8 years ago

Source: https://jor.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=28067

ryanianian3• 8 years ago

mantises appear to have evolved impressive learning abilities too

I found a mid-sized mantis on my porch the other day. These things are fascinating. It seemed to have genuine curiosity. I kinda waved my hand in front of it, and its gaze followed for a bit before it seemed to get bored with my hand and then looked me straight in the eyes. Then it casually walked away without breaking its gaze (its head turning nearly 180 degrees as it walked the other way). I'm sure I was projecting and it was just trying to avoid being eaten, but it seemed way more intelligent than other insects.

Thankfully these things aren't dangerous to humans otherwise I'm sure they'd have us enslaved by now.

Razengan2• 8 years ago

Thankfully these things aren't dangerous to humans otherwise I'm sure they'd have us enslaved by now.

There's still hope. We may get discovered by a warlike spacefaring species.

aldoushuxley001• 8 years ago

If history has taught us anything, it's that we are the most likely to enslave ourselves.

atombender• 8 years ago

There's a curious and slightly creepy effect when you look into the eyes of a mantis (or other creature with the same kind of eyes, like certain species of shrimp), and dark "pupils" seem to be staring directly at you. Those aren't real pupils, however, but pseudopupils -- an optical effect where you happen to be looking at a straight line into one of the facets that make up the compound eyes. Seen head on, the ommatidia appear dark or black, while the surrounding ommatidia reflect the light outwards.

throwaway02552• 8 years ago

I'm sure I was projecting and it was just trying to avoid being eaten, but it seemed way more intelligent than other insects.

Really interesting, but I agree it's most likely just a projection.

Possibly due to the fact that mantises are the only insect (that I can think of at least) that indicates focus by turning its head toward something?

The power of human emotional projection is extremely strong. I had the misfortune of seeing domesticated dogs in great distress (to put it mildly) a few times when I was younger, and one thing I always remember is that while experiencing the distress, the dogs would still make that familiar panting facial expression that most people innately perceive as a dog "smiling" or expressing happiness/joy.

As a result I have a very different experience from most people when I observe the behavior of dogs. I haven't seen any behavior in dogs yet that are any indication to me that they're capable of experiencing happiness/joy.

I'm somewhat convinced that people's perception of the emotional spectrum of dogs in particular is almost entirely an optimistic human construct. Their behavior patterns and how they appear to experience things actually seems extremely narrow to me, roughly the same as most other animals. I think the one exception to that is that dogs are unique in their tendency to adapt those behaviors in a domestic environment as though dogs and humans were members of the same species.

robbiep2• 8 years ago

I grew up on a farm and I have seen animals free from human interaction display playfulness, happiness, fear, pain and anger - Dogs, horses, cattle, sheep. In all cases I found these behaviours unambiguous and demonstrating a relatively rich inner life, that I find not at all unexpected from their neurobiology

justinpombrio• 8 years ago

It seemed to have genuine curiosity.

Yeah, they really do. I found one on a sidewalk a while back. Watched it for a while, then it came right up to me. I got it to come onto my hand. No fear.

Last picture here:

http://justinpombrio.net/about-me/pictures/

I left it in some bamboo after.

ekianjo• 8 years ago

a small one! In japanese mountains I have come across specimens that are at least 25 cm long. Bigger than one s hand. Truly terrifying!

BurningFrog• 8 years ago

it seemed way more intelligent than other insects.

Pretty sure most predators are more intelligent than their prey.

kakarot2• 8 years ago

I got in a fist fight with one of those little guys once.

He really wanted something of mine, he kept picking it up and walking away with it and I would swipe it out of his hands and put it back.

Finally he just got flat out pissed and started snapping at me, rearing back in a fighting stance and jabbing at me any time I came near. He went from super chill to super mean in an instant

I've encountered a few mantes before but that one takes the cake. They are SO SMART!

ryanianian3• 8 years ago

That's wonderful and terrifying. How much 'damage' did it do when it jabbed/snapped at you? Enough to draw blood or hurt for a while?

I'm always a bit fearful to pick them up (more so after reading this article - they can kill birds!).

throwaway02552• 8 years ago

I love the last sentence of the article:

Adult females are known to eat their mating partners after sex.

Just thought they'd throw that one in before signing off! But I do suppose a writer would be remiss not to remind you of that fact given the opportunity.

And a fascinating comment (which I haven't confirmed yet) from a reader below the article:

Sigh, females HAVE to eat the head of the male to remove the inhibition stopping him from climaxing. It doesn't happen AFTER sex, it is required for the sex to be successful in terms of conception.

I never knew that. This behavior has only ever been explained to me as some kind of vindictive or inexplicable act by the female mantis.

I wonder how the female mantis knows that this is a way to disinhibit the male's climax?? Nature can be so strange.

daveFNbuck2• 8 years ago

If this is true, she doesn't have to know why she's doing it. If there's a genetic variation that causes this behavior and enough of an advantage to doing it, that's what natural selection will favor.

brennebeck3• 8 years ago

Still controversial: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18049366

phyzome• 8 years ago

That's wrong, they don't have to do it. But it sure does help if they're not otherwise getting enough to eat!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis#Sexual_cannibalism

Apparently it happens more often under laboratory conditions than in the wild.

brennebeck3• 8 years ago

Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by a ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male's head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilization while obtaining sustenance. Later, this behavior appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behavior is natural in the field or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer remains controversial.

gammateam• 8 years ago

Pullout game so strong that females have to turn you into a vegetable to make sure you impregnate them

anonytrary• 8 years ago

The research team were surprised by the visual capability of the mantis, which could see its prey underneath the surface of the water.

According to this 2010 video[0] of a mantis catching a goldfish, the mantis has no problem doing this, however it was a human-manipulated situation during daylight.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZtzyHTX7g

newusertoday• 8 years ago

shouldn't the title be "preying"?

grzm• 8 years ago

"[Their] upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis

Praying mantis seen hunting for fish in wild for first time

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