Praying Mantis Catches and Eats a Male – Then the Lover Arrives | NATUR PUR

This documentary takes a fascinating look at a remarkable insect species, the PRAYING MANTIS, revealing a chapter of its life that can be both fascinating and sometimes gruesome. The film was shot on a warm, windy late-summer day at the edge of a meadow near the forest in the Kaiserstuhl region of Germany. A male praying mantis is out looking for a mate. His long antennae are densely covered with scent receptors, allowing him to detect the female’s sex pheromones from a considerable distance – several hundred metres away. The male follows the scent trail and flies towards the bushes. And there, a hungry female is already waiting for prey. Female praying mantises are remarkably patient ambush hunters. The females are considerably larger and heavier than the males. They can fly, but they rarely do. They simply don’t need to. The males come to them anyway, following the scent of a potential mate. Shortly after the male disappears into the bushes, the female grabs an unsuspecting male. She literally likes him for dinner. Once caught in those raptorial forelegs, which snap shut like a pocket knife, the prey has no chance of getting away. The male is taken apart piece by piece. You can clearly see the forelegs being eaten first, followed by the female greedily attacking the male’s head and body. About 14 minutes later – around the three-minute mark in the film – another lover quietly enters the scene. The female is completely distracted, busy eating her fellow male. His chance! In a flash, the male jumps onto the female’s back and holds on tightly with his forelegs. He then bends his abdomen around the side of the female, bringing their reproductive openings together. The sperm is then transferred into a sperm-storage organ inside the female. For the moment, the female is still busy with her meal. Eventually, she has had enough to eat – and now the two of them can finally get down to business. In my observation, the mating lasted almost three hours. And when it is finally over, there is only one thing left for the male to do: Get out of there – and fast! Since the female is full and sluggish, sexual cannibalism does not come into play this time. Because mating is often a life-threatening business for a male praying mantis. It is not uncommon for the female to bite the male’s head off even while they are still mating. But this male is spared that particular fate. Another male had to take the hit instead. THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE EUROPEAN PRAYING MANTIS: The life cycle of the European praying mantis follows a one-year rhythm, largely determined by temperature. In autumn, the fertilized female lays her eggs in foamy egg cases known as **oothecae**. She attaches them to branches, stones or other sheltered places. The foam hardens and protects the eggs safely through the winter. The following spring, the young larvae hatch. The female usually produces several of these egg cases. Producing them requires a great deal of energy and can leave the animals severely exhausted. In biological terms, the female has essentially completed her task. Eventually, old age or the onset of cold weather in autumn brings the natural end of the praying mantis’s life. And so ends another fascinating chapter in the life of this extraordinary insect.