The praying mantis is a unique insect. Its two front legs are designed to help hunt prey, and not used for walking. The front legs are in a position where they are folded, which gave its name the praying mantis, because it looks like it is praying. Plus it has a triangle shaped head. All of these things about the praying mantis make it so interesting, because no other insect I could think of is a carnivore or has a triangle shaped head.

Praying mantis hunts down small creatures such as frogs, lizards. So a praying mantis would hunt down Aogaeru from spirited away to feast on. They use their head, which can turn around like a human head to look around them. This is a very interesting thing about mantises. They have features that most other insects do not, it has six legs, the front two being used to catch and hold prey with the spikes on each of them. The front two are super strong to ensure that their food does not escape. Mantises also have wings on their back, most mantises are not able to fly with them, but a selective few actually can fly!

Mantises blend in with their environment to avoid predators, resulting in most mantises being green to blend in with leaves or grass. Brown to camouflage with dirt, wood and dead leaves. Many places in the world are suitable for mantises but the location in the story children in the woods is a great example: “Now, years later, I live in a rainforest in western Oregon, on the banks of a mountain river in relatively undisturbed country, surrounded by 150 – foot – tall Douglas firs, delicate deer head orchids, and clearings where wild berries grow” It would be the perfect home for mantises because they can blend in with the environment. Also there would be a good amount of food sources in the rainforest for the mantises. Finally they could be a sandy color to blend in with sand. But those types of mantises would not live in the rainforest. But some mantises blend in with more specific things, like a flower. So they could even be white or pink. Which could work inside of the rainforest.

All mantises have the normal senses that other living things have. The sense of smell, hearing, feeling, tasting, and sight. But the most important sense for a mantis is its sight. A mantises’ sight is stronger than a humans. Also it has access to a form of vision that only a few other things in the world can use. 

Stereo vision is when the creature or insect is able to accurately look at a far away distance with both of their eyes. Allowing the mantis to judge distances very easily. A good example of this is this animal from Scavengers by Charles Huettner. It can be used as a telescope for the humans to be able to focus on something further away. But praying mantis, with its incredible eyes, is able to do this already by itself.

Everything that is here about mantises is amazing. There are incredible creatures with a zen like pose. Its incredible strength for a small insect. Plus they have some impressive eyes. Mantises are super unique creatures, which is why they are so fascinating.